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THE involvement of opinion leaders in enhancing understanding of Covid-19 vaccines holds the greatest promise in removing barriers to vaccine uptake in the African region.
According to regional health experts that attended a two-day webinar on strategies to improve Covid-19 vaccines roll-out and uptake within the Comesa region, vaccine hesitancy and delivery are among the key barriers to vaccine uptake in the continent.
The event was organised by Comesa and the Africa Centre for Disease Control from 4 to 5 August 2021 for member States to share their experiences on the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination.
During the meeting, Rwanda’s vaccine distribution strategy plan was cited as a best case-study for having vaccinated over 380 000 people in three weeks after receiving its first consignment of 350 000 doses.
Zimbabwe, which has scored successes in Covid-19 mitigation and vaccinations, as well as Uganda, Zambia also shared their experiences.
In his remarks Rwanda Minister of Health Dr Daniel Ngamije, said strong leadership from the highest level, efficient co-ordination mechanism, effective partnerships and community engagement, using opinion leaders were success factors to vaccine rollout and uptake.
“There is a cost to pay in containing the Covid-19. Not doing what is required will cost more. It is a matter of time for this to become obvious for those still undermining the impact of this pandemic,” he said. As way forward, member States were called upon to support the implementation of African CDC programme on saving lives, economies and livelihood trusted vaccines.
The regional intervention focuses on vaccines procurement, strengthened in-country vaccines logistics and rollout, establishing vaccination centres, community engagements, monitoring side effects, genomics surveillance, digital support, and technical assistance.
The webinar also called on members States to support the new Africa CDC Public Health Order, which focuses on strengthening public health institutions and public health workforce, expanding manufacturing of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics and respectful action-oriented partnerships.
Comesa secretary-general, Ms Chileshe Kapwepwe, urged member States to learn from each other, and to adopt strategies to improve vaccine awareness as well as overcome existing barriers to vaccine uptake and roll out.
In his address, presented by his deputy Dr Ahmed Ouma, the African CDC Director Dr John Nkengasong said 51 member States in Africa had started vaccinating their people with over 61 million people vaccinated. Out of this number only 18,7 million people have completed the vaccination.
“Generally, Africa has administered 5,18 vaccine doses per 100 people compared to 53,50 globally, in which about 46 member States have less than 10 percent vaccine coverage,” he said.
The forum addressed among others, vaccine hesitancy, adverse event following immunisation, strategies on vaccine rollout, risk communication and community engagement activities among others.
In attendance were Government officials led by permanent secretaries, health professionals, international partners, civil society organisations, regional economic communities among others.
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