UPDATE 2-South Africa says non-refundable downpayments among onerous vaccine terms
Reuters
3 hrs ago
* Country has signed big vaccine deals with J&J, Pfizer
* Minister says manufacturers made difficult demands
* Paused J&J rollout on Tuesday over U.S. blood clot reports
* Minister signals pause may be short-lived (Adds quotes, detail, SAHPRA)
By Wendell Roelf and Alexander Winning
CAPE TOWN, April 14 (Reuters) - South Africa agreed to onerous conditions like non-refundable downpayments to secure COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Pfizer, its health minister said on Wednesday, describing terms vaccine manufacturers had demanded as "difficult and sometimes unreasonable".
The country worst-hit by the pandemic on the African continent in terms of coronavirus infections and deaths is counting on the single-dose J&J and double-shot Pfizer vaccines to ramp up immunisations after a slow start. It has signed deals with the two firms for a combined 61 million doses, enough to vaccinate 46 million people out of its population of 60 million.