COVID-19 Vaccine for Africa region

Access to an effective, affordable COVID-19 vaccine is an urgent issue for African countries.  An effective vaccine is currently being rolled out in the UK, USA and Canada, but not in any African country.  We need strong advocacy to ensure that African populations have timely access to an affordable COVID-19 vaccine.

The Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), which PATS is a member of, has issued a press release statement for immediate release regarding global access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Access the statement here.

The WHO has created the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator’s Country Readiness and Delivery (CRD) workstream. This workstream is focused on supporting readiness for the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, and works to provide regular updates to partners, program implementers and decision makers. The CRD workstream is working on information materials, tools and trainings to support civil society, including a webpage with all the existing and upcoming country readiness and delivery resources (i.e. one-pagers, articles, briefs, and frequently asked questions), guidance documents such as the Guidance on developing a national deployment and vaccination plan for COVID-19 vaccines, and tools such as the COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction Readiness Assessment Tool – VIRAT/VRAF 2.0. Additionally, tools to support local strategies to generate acceptance and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines will be available via the CRD webpage shortly.  

A range of COVID-19 vaccine introduction training packages are also available on OpenWHO and include e-learning modules, slide decks, and job aides. Two courses have recently been released: