The gap between healthcare provision for the privileged and those less fortunate South Africans will decrease with the rollout of two life-saving vaccines.

The two vaccines, pneumococcus conjugate and rotavirus, will now form part of the country's wider immunization programme and are aimed at reducing the child mortality rate among infants under five years-old in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

During the rollout of the vaccines at the Ukhahlamba district in the Eastern Cape on Friday, Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, said the two vaccines were introduced to combat infant and child deaths as a result of diarrhoea and pneumonia.

"This is a milestone for Africa - we are the first country on the continent to provide these vaccines in the public sector and I must add without charge," she said.

Clinical microbiologist at the national Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) Anne von Gottberg said the rollout was good news for South Africa.

Ms Von Gottberg said both vaccines had the potential to reduce the infant mortality rate in South Africa as both infections were common in South African infants.

"I work specifically with pneumococcal disease," said Ms Von Gottberg, "and this vaccine has been used safely and effectively in for example North America and Europe."

Data from these countries show remarkable reduction in disease due to the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, she said.

During the launch, the minister said access to clean water and sanitation, improved nutrition and food, and rapid and effective access to health services was also vital in preventing infant deaths.

"Earlier this year, we faced a very unfortunate situation of children dying in unacceptable numbers in the Ukhahlamba District," said Ms Tshabalala-Msimang referring to the deaths of 131 babies due to diarrhoeal infections between January and April this year.

She said that the roll-out was one aspect of government's initiative to put practical measures in place to avoid a recurrence of such incidents.

The department intends to have the vaccines made available throughout the Eastern Cape by October this year and nationally by the end of March next year.

"We estimate that the introduction of these vaccines will save about 14 lives of children each day or more than 4 700 deaths per year from pneumococcal pneumonia and viral diarrhea," said Ms Tshabalala-Msimang.

The vaccination schedule will follow the routine infant immunization schedule in South Africa, according to Ms Von Gottberg.

Once the vaccines are available nationally, infants will receive the additional vaccines during the routinely scheduled visits at 6, 10 and 14 weeks and again at 9 and 12 months.

The exact schedule is being planned carefully by the Department of Health and the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) task group.

The minister was accompanied to the launch by provincial health MECs and World Health Organisation (WHO) representatives.

The pneumococcus conjugate vaccine protects children against diseases like pneumonia, meningitis and other more common infections like sinusitis. Pneumococcus is reported to cause an estimated 1.8 million deaths per in children under five mainly in developing and poor countries.

The rotavirus vaccine is known to protect children against rotavirus which is known to be a cause of severe diarrhoea among children under-five.

The introduction of these two vaccines puts South Africa among only a few countries in the world, mainly developed countries such as the United States, to have these vaccines in their immunisation programme.

The launch also coincides with the 30th Anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration which emphasizes the important of primary healthcare and the principles of equity, social solidarity and collaboration between different sectors.

The declaration also encourages community participation and the minister urged people to work closely with the department's service providers to ensure good-health for all community members.

Ms Tshabalala-Msimang said the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, in which the two vaccines will be included, has resulted in more than 80 percent of children under the age of one being immunized.

Due to the programme, South Africa has also been declared Polio free by the WHO and has fewer laboratory-confirmed cases of measles and related deaths than many countries, including those in Europe, according to the minister.