DA writes to Speaker to request urgent Finance Committee meeting on vaccine funding

5 July 2021

Today, the DA has written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise MP, and the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Joe Maswanganyi MP, to request the committee to urgently convene to discuss the release of the contingency reserve funds allocated for vaccinations.

Weekend vaccination rates are unacceptably low because provinces do not have enough funds available to pay nursing staff overtime.

Last week, the DA pointed out that, if weekend daily vaccination rates had kept up with weekday daily vaccination rates, over a million more vaccine doses could have been administered by now.

Instead of ensuring that South Africans get the vaccines they deserve, Treasury and the Department of Health are instead yet again engaged in a blame game, with Treasury accusing the Health Department of not having asked for more money.

South Africans cannot wait any longer to get vaccinated whilst hundreds of thousands are prohibited from earning a living during every single consecutive wave of the pandemic. It is time to vaccinate and save lives 7 days a week.

Issued by Geordin Hill-Lewis, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 5 July 2021