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It seems like Treasury indeed has a lot to answer for in delaying the procurement of vaccines. In this @FinancialMail article NT is cited as asking "why waste money on vaccines?" This shows the perverse consequences of dogmatic fiscal conservatism
https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2021-01-14-vaccines-for-sa-better-late-than-never/ https://twitter.com/NeilColemanSA/status/1346389707777830914
https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2021-01-14-vaccines-for-sa-better-late-than-never/ https://twitter.com/NeilColemanSA/status/1346389707777830914
According to the FM "it was a tough sell to get the Treasury to fork out...which is why the department (of Health) approached the Solidarity Fund...Treasury was not convinced that a large volume of vaccines would be necessary."
"2 studies on immunity in the W Cape & Gauteng had been released. They suggested that given...antibody levels present in 30%-40% of the population in the 2 provinces, a "natural immunity" was being built. In Treasury’s view, if this was the case, "why waste money on vaccines?"
This gives a glimpse into two critical errors NT has consistently made for decades:
Meddling in policy areas where they lack the necessary expertise, based purely on fiscal concerns. We saw the disastrous results with the Aids fiasco, & now we are seeing it with #vaccines.
Meddling in policy areas where they lack the necessary expertise, based purely on fiscal concerns. We saw the disastrous results with the Aids fiasco, & now we are seeing it with #vaccines.
Even if true that 30-40% of the population has built "natural immunity", international science suggests only once about 70% of the population is immune, largely through vaccines, will sufficient immunity ('herd immunity') be achieved to arrest the spread of the virus.
But Treasury seems willing to embrace unscientific thinking, if it is line with their fiscal agenda. This is what happened with HIV & the procurement of ARVs, with disastrous social results, and the unnecessary loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.
Secondly,NT seems oblivious to the perverse *economic* consequences of taking narrow decisions driven by fiscal conservatism, purportedly to safeguard the economy. We have seen the stifling impact of their contractionary macro economic policy over the last decade-
this destroys jobs, reduces revenue, deindustrialises the economy etc.
Now we have the insane miserliness of NT resisting payment of around R10bn for vaccines, versus the massive economic cost- measured in hundreds of billions- which the continued #Covid crisis will wreak.
Now we have the insane miserliness of NT resisting payment of around R10bn for vaccines, versus the massive economic cost- measured in hundreds of billions- which the continued #Covid crisis will wreak.
This sorry saga again exposes the irrationality of this short sighted economic thinking. NT should not be making such decisions of strategic national importance. Presidency needs to step up to establish coherence and logic to economic decision making.
