Discovery Health anticipates that it will cost an upper limit of R7bn for medical schemes to fund Covid-19 vaccines for 7.1-million of their own members as well as to subsidise an equal number of non-members in the public sector.
There are 7.1-million members of schemes above the age of 15. While there are many factors that will affect the cost of vaccines — including the brand, the number of doses required and the storage requirements — the cost for about 14.2-million people would range between R4bn and R7bn. This includes the distribution and logistics of the exercise.It is not unusual for the private sector to pay significantly higher prices than the public sector for drugs.
The private sector would be involved in the logistics and administration, and was already engaged in developing a digital “Covid passport” to track who has been vaccinated and the follow-up of second doses.The distribution of vaccines to medical scheme members will follow the same priority order as that in the public sector. This includes health workers first, followed by essential workers and workers in large institutions as well as the elderly and those with co-morbidities.
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)