COVID-19: Many countries are prepared for immunisation-World Bank

The World Bank has said although countries have gaps in readiness, most have prepared well enough across most essential areas to begin their immunisation drives as soon as they receive vaccines.

It said this in a new report it released on Thursday in Washington D.C. on the preparedness of 128 lows and middle-income countries for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

The bank said it worked with governments, World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Global Fund and GAVI on assessing countries’ readiness to safely deploy the vaccines.

It said that the results showed that income level and other economic indicators correlate weakly with vaccine preparedness.

“The report focuses on ten key indicators, including cold chain and logistics, population prioritisation, budgeting, training of healthcare personnel and safety surveillance among others.”

Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank, Mamta Murthi was quoted as saying that many developing countries were in the midst of preparing aggressive COVID-19 vaccine delivery plans.

“While most countries are well enough prepared to begin inoculating their populations, there are still important gaps that must urgently be addressed for wide, large scale vaccination rollouts to succeed.”

According to the report, initial findings show that 85 per cent of countries that participated in the assessments have developed national vaccination plans and 68 per cent have safety measures in place, including systems for reporting adverse reactions.

However, only 30 per cent have developed plans to train a large number of vaccinators who will be needed.

Also, only 27 per cent have created social mobilisation and public engagement strategies to encourage people to get vaccinated.

It added that given worrying vaccine hesitancy, strategies to generate confidence, acceptance and demand for vaccines were urgently needed.

The report noted that countries affected by conflict and fragility (37 out of 128) scored lower than other countries on almost all indicators.

The assessment also showed that the existence of well-functioning child immunisation national delivery systems was not a strong predictor of country readiness to deliver vaccines for adults, such as COVID-19 vaccines.

“A weak correlation between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and readiness indicates that countries with more developed economies are not necessarily better prepared for massive vaccination programs.

“The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is an opportunity to create a sustainable, environmentally friendly cold chain that could be of use well beyond the current crisis.”

It added that fair, broad and fast access to effective and safe COVID-19 vaccines, especially in poor countries, was vital to save lives and strengthen the global economic recovery.

Only once the pandemic is contained in all countries will each country be safe from a resurgence and able to focus all efforts on overcoming the deepest global recession in eight decades, it said.

The World Bank also said it had provided $12 billion for developing countries to purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments and strengthen health and vaccination systems to ensure that vaccines got to those who need them.

“Our vaccination programs will reach over 40 countries in the near-term, amounting to three billion dollars out of the 12 billion dollars available.”