Do medical aid members pay for vaccines at independent pharmacies?
25 May 2021 4:28 PM
Share This: Independent Community Pharmacy Association in communication with the government on uninsured people to receive the vaccine.
Last week the Medical aid schemes insisted that people would not expect to pay for their COVID-19 vaccine, encouraging members to register through the national Department of Health.
South Africa is busy with Phase 2 of the vaccination roll-out for people over 60, those with comorbidities, and healthcare workers.
Pharmacist and CEO at Independent Community Pharmacy Association, Jackie Maimin, says 27 pharmacies have been available in providing the vaccines to citizens since last week but fears, in the long run, they may experience shortages.
More than 167,000 people were vaccinated in the first week of Phase Two of South Africa’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. They received just the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
The roll-out was given a boost over the weekend, with the finding that the Pfizer vaccine can be stored in a refrigerator for a month. Previously, it was estimated that the vaccine would last in a standard fridge for only five days, but new data prove otherwise. The change was approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority after its counterparts in Europe and the US made the same call. Read more about what this means for the roll-out here.
Covid-19 vaccines now available at selected pharmacies
Share
This week, the country enters phase 2 of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out programme which will see the elderly and people with comorbidities receiving their jabs.
The government will administer the two-shot Pfizer vaccines at 87 sites across the country until October.
Health-care experts have said that for the government to expeditiously vaccinate two-thirds of a country of 58 million people, it will have to pool resources from the private sector at an unprecedented scale.
The Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA), in collaboration with the Department of Health, is gearing up to offer Covid-19 vaccinations to the public, starting with the over 60s. Two of these pharmacies in Gauteng have been approved to start providing vaccines to health-care workers and 500 more are in the application process.
Independent pharmacies get accredited as vaccination sites 702.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 702.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Medical schemes regulator boosts patients’ rights to choose their pharmacy BL PREMIUM 27 April 2021 - 20:08 Tamar Kahn
The medical schemes regulator has banned the imposition of excessive co-payments on patients who choose health-care providers outside the networks chosen by their medical schemes.
While the move potentially has implications across the private health-care sector, it will bring particular relief to independent pharmacies shut out of these networks and give patients greater choice in where they purchase their medicines.
BL Premium
This article is reserved for our subscribers. A subscription helps you enjoy the best of our business content every day along with benefits such as exclusive Financial Times articles, ProfileData financial data, and digital access to the Sunday Times and Sunday Times Daily.