Question NW1904 to the Minister of Finance
22 October 2021 - NW1904
Hill-Lewis, Mr GG to ask the Minister of Finance
With reference to the provision of R15 billion in total, including contingencies, in the 2021-22 National Budget for the purposes of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout programme, what is the reason that the requisite funds to run weekend vaccination clinics have not been made available to provincial health departments, causing the Republic to vaccinate a million fewer South Africans per month than would otherwise be possible were vaccination centres operating over weekends?
Reply:
R1.5 billion has been allocated to provincial Departments of Health in 2021/22 through a ring fenced conditional grant component to fund the administration of vaccines, including weekend work. As of 22 August, only 19.8% (R297.2 million) of this amount had been spent.
National Treasury has not received any request from the National Department of Health (NDOH) indicating additional funding is needed in provinces for weekend vaccinations or otherwise. While some provinces have informally indicated that additional funding might be required, the National Treasury has requested the sector to provide a formal budget bid but has not received anything to date.
In principle, we support opening up for vaccinations in public sites on weekends, should the health sector decide to do so. However, it is not immediately clear to us that finance is the binding constraint to weekend vaccinations.