Guidance on administration of COVID-19 vaccine boosters in Africa

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Guidance on administration of COVID-19 vaccine boosters in Africa

Context
As part of the “Strategy to Achieve Global COVID-19 Vaccination by mid-2022”, global targets of 40% population coverage by end of 2021 and 70% coverage by June 2022 have been set by the World Health Organization (WHO), to successfully prevent severe illness and deaths, minimize social disruption and economic consequences of COVID-19, curtail the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) and ultimately control the pandemic.

What is the current status of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Africa?
By the 31st December 2021, only seven (13%) of 55 Africa Union (AU) Member States had reached the year end 40% population coverage goal (Botswana, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Morocco, Rwanda, Seychelles and Tunisia), and currently only two Member States (Mauritius and Seychelles) have fully vaccinated more than 70% of their population.
By beginning of February 2022, at the continental level, 11% of the population had received a complete primary COVID-19 immunization series (either 1 or 2 doses depending on the vaccine). Fifty-four Member States were actively vaccinating their populations; of these, 21 extended immunization to younger age groups (children and/or adolescents) and 22 offered booster vaccine doses. Comparatively, countries in the European Union and the United States, had fully vaccinated 60% or more of their populations, including adolescents and children, and had rolled out booster vaccine doses.

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Guidance on administration of COVID-19 vaccine boosters in AfricaDownload

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) launched its Southern Africa Regional Collaborating Centre (SA-RCC) on 31st March 2021, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at Mulungushi Conference Centre in Lusaka, Zambia. The lunch was organised by the Southern Africa RCC in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Republic of Zambia under the auspices of Dr. Kennedy Malama, Permanent Secretary of the MOH of the Republic of Zambia, and Chair of the organizing committee.

The overall objective of the launch was to highlight the technical support and planned initiatives for the Southern Africa Region that include Health Security, information sharing, policy dialogue, regional collaboration and partnership, and challenges affecting the Member States, as well as coordination across borders in the context of COVID-19 and beyond.

The launch was well attended, and officially declared open by Her Excellency, Mrs. Inonge Mutukwa Wina, the Vice President of the Republic of Zambia, and supported by His Excellency Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, represented by Mrs. Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, the Commissioner for Rural Economy & Agriculture. Other participants in attendance include Hon. Dr. Jonas Chanda, MP, Minister of Health of the Republic of Zambia; Ministers from the Southern Africa Region; Her Excellency, Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil, Acting Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, – and over 6,000 persons who attended the launch, majority of them virtually via Africa CDC Twitter Handle and Facebook page. Also in attendance were representatives from WHO, UNICEF, US-CDC, AU-SARO, RECs and SADC, Public Health England, World Bank, COMESA, AMERA, and EFENET in Zambia (See ANNEX 3).

The meeting concluded by requesting the Southern Africa RCC to present the findings of the Role of Regional public health institutions in improving disease surveillance and response in the region; introduce the framework of the Regional Integrated Surveillance and Laboratory Networks (RISLNET); organize a high-level regional meeting to improve cross border surveillance in the context of health security; organize a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting, and encourage African Union Member States that don’t have National Public Health Institute to establish one (See the table on agreed action points in No. 9 below)

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Summary Report: The Official Launch of the Africa CDC SA-RCCDownload