By Chukwuma Muanya
Nigeria has maintained a sustained COVID-19 vaccination rollout in recent months, surpassing the milestone of fully vaccinating 30 per cent of its total population.
According to a snap analysis, published, yesterday, by Gavi (The Vaccine Alliance), the increase from less than three per cent coverage with a primary series in January 2022 to over 30 per cent in January 2023 is a result of dedicated efforts by the government and stakeholders in rolling out relevant strategies to sustain COVID-19 vaccination amid competing health priorities.
The analysis showed that key drivers behind the success of this year’s drive include leadership and improved coordination at the local, state and national level, as well as innovation, such as increase of mobile vaccination sites.
It noted: “With more teams being supported to take the vaccines to communities, rather than wait for visits to facilities, missed opportunities are being reduced.
“The country also adopted a strategy to track the performance of the vaccination teams in various states through the daily call-in data. Performance of states are being ranked, and this is disseminated daily on social media and provides healthy competition across the states.
“Nigeria also set up COVID-19 Crisis Communication Centres (CRICC) at the national and state levels, ensuring targeted demand generation activities were adopted and rolled out across the country.
“Nigeria has maintained COVID-19 vaccine rollout through campaigns and initiatives with the support of stakeholders, including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
“COVAX, which Gavi co-leads with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has supplied over 91 million COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria (about 65 per cent of all vaccines received) and over 669 million to the African continent.”
According to the analysis, the country has also developed an integrated micro-plan featuring routine immunisation, alongside COVID-19 vaccinations, with a bottom-up approach taking into account individual state’s plans.
It noted that the country has integrated a service delivery approach with teams empowered to provide multiple array of services – COVID-19 vaccination, routine immunisation, ensuring that other key health services were not neglected.
Source: The Guardian
