South Africa's Covid-19 vaccine no-fault compensation fund will have R250-million at its disposal to compensate citizens for vaccine-related injuries in its first year.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the figure was based on an estimated caseload of between 800 and 2 000 successful claims.

It also includes the provision for administrative costs.

According to Mkhize's reply to a written response to a parliamentary question from Inkatha Freedom Party MP Magdalena Duduzile Hlengwa, the types and categories of injuries to be covered would be kept simple and limited to severe harm at the "launch of the programme".

"The existing national immunisation safety expert committee [NISEC] of the Department of Health - which is a non-statutory, standing, ministerial-appointed, advisory committee of independent experts - follows a globally used structured and systematic causality assessment process to classify cases in terms of causality.

"NISEC will develop and maintain a vaccine injury table to be used to provide an objective point of departure for assessing an application for compensation. The standard of proof for compensation must be a causal link between vaccination and injury," he said.

Retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo has been appointed to head the no-fault compensation scheme.

In the process of procuring Covid-19 vaccines from suppliers as part of its vaccine rollout strategy, the government was required to indemnify suppliers against adverse events resulting from the use of the vaccines.

To ensure any person suffering from severe injuries due to adverse events from the use of vaccines, suppliers required the establishment of a vaccine no-fault compensation programme and a fund from which to pay compensation claims.

Claims may not be filed in court until the panel has processed them, but its rulings may be appealed, according to the proposed regulations.

In Parliament recently, Mkhize said negotiations with Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers placed the government in a Catch-22 situation. 

He even went as far as saying the government had to decide between saving lives and risk putting the country's assets into private hands in procuring the life-saving jabs.

Despite the delays, the first batch of the Pfizer vaccine will arrive in the country in the first week of May.

Every week, starting on 3 May, South Africa will receive 325 260 vaccine doses.

Rollout paused

The health department halted the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine rollout after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that six women had developed extremely rare blood clots after receiving the vaccine. More than six-million US citizens have been injected with the vaccine.

Meanwhile, phase two of South Africa's vaccination drive is expected to start in mid-May.

Just more than 16-million people are set to be vaccinated and first in the queue are those over the age of 60, who can register for their vaccines through the government’s online portal.

In respect of compensation claims, Mkhize said the administration process of the fund would be simple to use.

"Preferably, a healthcare practitioner should complete a compensation claim form simultaneously with notification of an adverse event following immunisation notification.

"Alternatively, when the NISEC determines causality the healthcare practitioner, or the vaccinated person, can be contacted and advised to complete a compensation claim. The department and Treasury have finalised the draft regulations establishing the no-fault compensation scheme," he added.

Public comments on the scheme's regulations should be submitted by 19 April.