Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

File photo of garbage being dumped at a landfill in Byron Township, Michigan.Photo: Mike Clark/The Grand Rapids Press (AP)

The U.S. has wasted millions of covid-19 vaccine doses since the pandemic began, with many more ready to be tossed in the garbage in the coming weeks and months as they expire, according to a damning new report from ABC News. Roughly 50,000 Americans are still getting their first dose each day.

The U.S. has vaccinated just 66.6% of its population against covid-19, the lowest rate among any wealthy country in the world. In fact, the U.S. is ranked 62nd in the world for covid-19 vaccinations, right behind Nepal (66.9%), Sri Lanka (67.4%), and Iran (68.4%), according to Johns Hopkins University.

The ABC News report notes that concrete figures are tough to come by and theyre changing every day, but the amount of waste, even when its just a ballpark figure, is staggering when you see how difficult its been for many poorer countries to even get access to the vaccines.

For example, North Carolina alone, where just 63% of the population has gotten at least two doses has seen 1.7 million covid-19 shots gone to waste. And in Michigan, where only 60.2% of the population has been fully vaccinated against covid-19, another 1.7 million shots have been sent to landfills. Over 100,000 more shots are set to expire in Michigan within the next two weeks alone.

And while its great the U.S. has doses to spare for anyone who wants one, it points to the tremendous inefficiencies and waste of the countrys private health care system. The problem, as experts note, is that once the doses have been delivered to pharmacies and clinics, they cant be easily rerouted to another part of the world that might have people who are more willing to take up the vaccines.

The U.S. reported 97,966 new cases of covid-19 on Wednesday and 684 deaths, with just 43 of the 50 states reporting totals. Florida alone reported 4,590 new cases on Wednesday, up substantially from weeks prior.

Vaccines have become a lightning rode of controversy not just in the U.S. but around the world, as countless people spread misinformation about supposed harms that befall people who get jabbed. All of the covid-19 vaccines that have been approved in the U.S. have been shown to be safe and effective. And if you havent gotten yours yet, theres still time. In fact, if you dont get your vaccine soon, its just going to wind up at the dump.

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Millions of Covid-19 Vaccine Shots Going to Waste in U.S. as Vaccination Program Fizzles: Report - Gizmodo

Which COVID-19 vaccines are available in the United States?

As of February 2022, two COVID-19 vaccines have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and one has been authorized for emergency use.

Pfizer, Inc., and BioNTech BNT162b2:On August 23, 2021, the FDA approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine called Comirnaty for people age 16 and older. The vaccine is still available under emergency use authorization for children and teens 5 to 15 years old.View the infographic to see what is in the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

ModernaTX, Inc., mRNA-1273:On January 31, 2022, the FDA approved this NIH-funded COVID-19 vaccine called Spikevax for people age 18 and older.View the infographic to see what is in the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson:On February 27, 2021, theFDA authorized emergency useof this single-shot vaccine for people age 18 and older.Developed with support from NIH, this vaccine does not require special refrigeration.Women younger than 50 years old should be aware of therare risk of blood clotsafter vaccination.

Studies show that protection against SARS-CoV-2 begins to decrease over time after initial vaccine doses. Additional vaccine doses (booster vaccinations) provide longer-lasting protection against COVID-19.

The FDA has authorizedbooster vaccinations of all three COVID-19 vaccinesavailable in the United States. Theeligibility period for a booster doseis based on several factors, including which vaccine you originally received and how long it has been since you were fully vaccinated.

Eligible people can choose which vaccine they receive as a booster dose this is known as heterologous ormix and match dosing. Based on data from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the FDA has determined that the benefits of mixing doses outweighs any known or potential risks.

Studies show that COVID-19 vaccines arevery effective in preventing COVID-19, even for people at high risk for the disease.

Sometimes people who are fully vaccinated get abreakthrough infection, meaning that they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 or become ill with COVID-19. Fully vaccinated people areless likely to become seriously ill, even from COVID-19 variants.

Vaccines have very high safety standards, and COVID-19 vaccines are no exception.COVID-19 vaccines have undergone and will continue to undergo the mostintensive safety monitoringin U.S. history.

The timeline for creating COVID-19 vaccines was shorter than for other vaccines for many reasons, including:

NIH scientists have beenstudying mRNA vaccines and coronaviruses for decades. They had a head start because they already knew a lot about how mRNA vaccines work and how to make them.

Researchers, the federal government, and drug companiescame together like never beforeto cooperate and share resources, making the vaccine testing process more efficient.

NIH set up theCOVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN)to coordinate existing research networks and carry out large clinical trials in tens of thousands of people efficiently. Many Americans from diverse communities volunteered to participate in the studies.

The FDA analyzed data from the clinical trials right away.

The safety of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines is being tracked through theVaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a unique safety system calledv-safethat was established specifically for COVID-19 vaccines, and other systems. Vaccine manufacturers submit monthly safety updates to the FDA. The FDA also inspects vaccine production facilities and checks the quality of vaccine batches.

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COVID-19 Vaccines - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

A large US study published by The BMJ today finds that fewer people die from covid-19 in better vaccinated communities.

The findings, based on data across 2,558 counties in 48 US states, show that counties with high vaccine coverage had a more than 80% reduction in death rates compared with largely unvaccinated counties.

This large benefit complements the growing body of evidence indicating individual level benefits of covid-19 vaccination. A linked editorial also proposes that encouraging people to keep up to date with vaccination saves lives.

As of 11 April 2022, more than 11 billion covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally and the World Health Organization's target is to vaccinate 70% of the world's population by mid-2022.

Yet while previous vaccine studies have shown benefits at the individual level, the wider population level impact of scaling up covid-19 vaccination remains largely unknown.

To address this, researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) set out to estimate how increasing county coverage of vaccines affected population level mortality and incidence of covid-19.

Their findings are based on more than 30 million cases of covid-19 and over 400,000 deaths linked to covid-19 across 2558 counties, which were reported during the second year of the pandemic, between December 2020 and December 2021.

They measured effectiveness by comparing reported covid-19 incidence and mortality rates in counties with very low (0-9%), low (10-39%), medium (40-69%), and high (70% or more) vaccination coverage - defined as the percentage of adults (aged 18 and over) who had received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine.

After taking account of potentially influential factors, the researchers found that increased vaccination coverage in counties was associated with reduced levels of covid-19 related mortality and cases.

For example, during the first half of 2021, when the alpha variant of coronavirus was dominant, the covid-19 mortality rate was reduced by 60%, 75%, and 81% in counties with low, medium, and high vaccination coverage, respectively, compared with counties that had very low coverage.

The corresponding figures for the reduction in cases were 57%, 70%, and 80%.

Similar reductions in mortality were also seen during the second half of 2021 when the delta variant became dominant in the US, although with smaller effects on case levels.

This is an observational study, so can't establish cause and the researchers say several limitations should be considered when interpreting these data. For example, additional markers of severe disease, such as hospital admissions, were not explored and they did not control for factors such as rules on wearing a face mask masking and physical distancing at the time, which may have affected their results.

Nevertheless, they point out that results were similar after further sensitivity analyses, suggesting that they withstand scrutiny. And they say: "Future research may benefit from evaluating macroeconomic effects of improving population health, such as changes in employment rates and gross domestic product resulting from reopening society."

This study adds to the evidence that vaccination can prevent infection and illness on a large scale, writes Professor Christopher Dye at the University of Oxford in a linked editorial.

The findings of this study also make clear that many more lives could have been saved, and will be saved, by encouraging people to keep up to date with vaccination in the face of waning immunity and new coronavirus variants and by achieving even higher population coverage."

Christopher Dye, Professor, University of Oxford

"How many lives is a matter for others to explore. Meanwhile, this new study is another confidence booster for covid-19 vaccines," he concludes.

Source:

Journal reference:

Suthar, A. B., et al. (2022) Public health impact of covid-19 vaccines in the US: observational study. BMJ. doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-069317.

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Study shows public health impact of covid-19 vaccines in the U.S. - News-Medical.Net

Health personnel are preparing injection syringes with Covid-19 vaccine in 2021 in Copenhagen, Denmark. the country has now announced it will suspend its vaccination program and will review whether it's needed later in the year.

Ole Jensen | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Denmark has become the first country to halt its Covid vaccination program, saying it is doing so because the virus is now under control.

"Spring has arrived, vaccine coverage in the Danish population is high, and the epidemic has reversed," the Danish Health Authority said in a statement Wednesday.

"Therefore, the National Board of Health is now ending the broad vaccination efforts against Covid-19 for this season," it said. People will not be invited for vaccines from May 15, it said, although everyone will be able to finish their course of vaccination.

Denmark's Covid vaccination campaign began soon after Christmas in 2020. Some 4.8 million citizens have been vaccinated, the health authority said, with more than 3.6 million people receiving a booster shot.

At the same time, many people have been infected since the omicron variant became the dominant strain of the virus, it said, meaning immunity levels among the population are high.

"We are in a good place," Bolette Soborg, unit manager at the National Board of Health, commented.

"We have good control of the epidemic, which seems to be subsiding.Admission rates [to hospitals] are stable and we also expect them to fall soon.Therefore, we are rounding up the mass vaccination program against Covid-19."

Soborg insisted that the public can still be vaccinated over the spring and summer if they want, and that vaccination sites will remain open around the country.

He added that immunization was still recommended to people for whom Covid poses a heightened risk, such as those over the age of 40 and for unvaccinated pregnant women. "We also continue to recommend that you complete your started vaccination course," he said.

Denmark's move to suspend its vaccination program comes as the Covid situation around the world remains mixed. Europe and the U.S. have abandoned most Covid restrictions, but China is still imposing (or considering) lockdowns as the virus spreads in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

Far from scrapping its vaccination program altogether, however, the Danish Health and Medicines Authority said there will probably be a need to vaccinate against Covid-19 again in the fall as the virus continues to mutate.

New variants have emerged over the course of the pandemic, which is now into its third year. These have eroded the efficacy of the Covid vaccines that were developed in record time in 2020, although the shots authorized for use in the West remain effective at preventing serious infection, hospitalization and death from Covid-19.

With the vaccination program likely to restart in a few months' time, Denmark's health experts will be looking at who should be vaccinated, when the shots should be given and which vaccines should be used.

The Danish Health and Medicines Authority said it would continue to follow the development of the epidemic closely, and is ready to restart vaccination efforts again if there is a need to immunize additional target groups before the fall.

Read CNBC's latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:

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Denmark becomes the first country to halt its Covid vaccination program - CNBC

When the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began, pregnant women hesitated to roll up their sleeves for shots, according to a survey conducted by the University of California, Davis.

In the study, published in the journal Vaccine, a team of researchers surveyed 387 pregnant Californians to gather perceptions and reasons behind getting vaccinated against COVID-19. The web-based survey was conducted between December 2020 and January 2021, shortly after the first COVID-19 vaccines were given emergency use authorization in the United States.

Survey results showed that 98.7% of participants were aware of the newly developed vaccine, but more than half were hesitant to be vaccinated, and 43% of respondents reported that they planned to get the vaccine as soon as it was offered to them. The remaining 57% were hesitant. Of those, 27% responded that they would not receive the vaccine as soon as it was offered, and 30% were unsure.

The most common response for being hesitant was: I dont know enough about the vaccine. Leigh Ann Simmons, professor of human ecology and the studys lead author, said that because pregnant people were not included in initial vaccine trials, it was reasonable for these respondents to be hesitant about getting vaccinated.

It was not surprising that not knowing enough about the vaccine was high on the list, Simmons said. The timing of the survey was right as the vaccine came out, and without studies of pregnant people, it makes sense that this concern existed.

The survey also found that respondents trusted health care providers, including doctors and nurses, to provide them with information about the vaccine. Simmons said moving forward, now that pregnant women are starting to be included in vaccine trials, public health agencies and individual health care providers should work together to provide more vaccine information to patients. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccine trials with people who are pregnant are now underway or planned.

Theres a group of people who are hesitant, but it doesnt mean they wont get the vaccine, she said. If information about the vaccine is communicated in a way people can make sense of it for themselves, then they can make an informed decision for themselves and for their babies.

The survey also found that essential worker status was associated with vaccine hesitancy. Results showed 56% of essential workers were hesitant, compared to 44% of nonessential workers who were hesitant.

Refusing the seasonal flu shot was also highly predictive of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy. Findings showed 78 participants said they had not gotten, nor were they intending to receive, an influenza vaccine. Of those, 90% were also COVID-19-vaccine hesitant. However, of the remaining 287 participants who said they had either gotten, or intended to get, a flu shot, 46% were hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Simmons suggested that it wasnt that those individuals were hesitant to receive any vaccine while pregnant, but rather, hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccine specifically.

According to the studys authors, terms like vaccine hesitant and anti-vax do not adequately portray or explain decisions related to getting vaccinated, because within this sample, hesitancy was mostly associated with the uncertainty of the vaccines effect on pregnancy and fetal development.

We like to put people in boxes very quickly, and that is probably one of the least helpful things we can do in public health, because the minute we categorize people, weve lost an opportunity to educate, Simmons said. Its about meeting people where they are, and we have a long way to go on that.

More here:

Lack of Knowledge Led to COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy During Pregnancy - University of California, Davis

Les, aged 72, has been living with rheumatoid arthritis for the last 25 years. It is a painful condition causing swelling and stiffness in joints, which over the years has limited Less mobility, including his ability to drive.

Even before COVID-19 struck, I was quite isolated. The arthritis affects my feet, fingers, wrists, shoulders and knees, so getting around can be really difficult, and there was a time I couldnt walk more than a few paces without being in agony.

Fortunately, Les was put on a new drug therapy which is now helping to control the condition and relieving some of the pain. But having an autoimmune disease still leaves him vulnerable to life-threatening viruses, such as COVID-19.

When pandemic restrictions were first introduced in March 2020, I was told by my hospital to self-isolate to not leave the house and to not come into contact with anyone from outside my household. What I didnt realize then was that I would remain in isolation for the next 2 years, and that it would put such a huge burden on my wife, who had to do all the tasks that needed doing outside of the home.

Indeed, even the thing he was most looking forward to celebrating his 70th birthday with friends and family, an event organized well before COVID-19 hit Europe had to be postponed twice due to the ongoing nature of the pandemic and the need to continue isolating.

I felt an immense sense of relief when COVID-19 vaccines became available. They not only offered me protection from a virus which could cause me real harm, but, just as importantly, gave me hope that I could one day soon end my isolation. Being immunocompromised meant that I was one of the first to get the jab and, apart from a small bruise on my shoulder, I had no side effects.

Les is now fully vaccinated and finally able to venture outside of his home, but he knows that while vaccines offer the best form of protection against the COVID-19 virus, they are not infallible as he discovered to his cost recently.

Most of the time, I wear a face mask and avoid large crowds, but in the last few weeks I had to attend a friends funeral, along with 50 other people. Most people were not wearing masks and I felt a bit silly putting one on, but now Im kicking myself that I didnt, Les explains.

The next day, I developed a severe headache, lost my appetite and sense of taste, and felt very weak and dizzy. I tested and found I had COVID-19. I felt awful for 2 weeks, and at one scary moment also found myself struggling for breath. The dizziness persisted for another 3 weeks and only now do I feel more back to normal.

Les continues, Im so angry with myself for letting my guard down that one time. But Im also incredibly grateful for the COVID-19 vaccines I got, because the consequences if I hadnt had them could have been much, much worse.

Despite the privations that Les has suffered over the last 2 years, he is philosophical about his experience. Disappointments like lost holidays and parties are trivial compared to dying.

He adds, One of my biggest challenges during the pandemic was looking after my elderly mother who needed daily care during the last year of her life. I am so thankful that we managed to protect her from COVID-19. Less mother passed away peacefully at the age of 97.

Across the WHO European Region, over 1.5 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in total. Hundreds of thousands of lives are known to have been saved as a result.

Despite the large number of COVID-19 cases currently in our Region, high population immunity, largely brought about by successful vaccination programmes, has helped to keep hospitalization and death rates down.

Getting fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and taking a booster dose when recommended is vitally important, particularly for people who are older, have underlying health conditions or are immunocompromised, because the virus is still circulating at high levels and lives are still being lost unnecessarily.

WHO continues to work with countries to help increase vaccine uptake, particularly among groups at high risk of severe disease.

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But for the COVID-19 vaccine, I might not be here now the difference the jab has made to someone at high risk of severe disease - WHO/Europe

Even when COVID-19 vaccines fail to prevent hospitalisation, they appear to significantly lower the risk of being admitted to intensive care and dying compared to patients who are unvaccinated, according to a time-matched cohort study of over 20,000 adults hospitalised in Ontario between January 2021 and January 2022, being presented at this years European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal (23-26 April). The study is by Alicia Grima and Kiera Murison from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and colleagues.

The good news from this study is that, even when hospitalised with COVID-19, both partial and complete vaccination, reduced the risk of requiring treatment in intensive care and death, says Murison.

The rapid development of safe and effective vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus has drastically reduced the burden of COVID-19-related hospitalization and deaths. However, the risk of breakthrough cases of severe COVID-19 after vaccination remains, particularly among groups at higher risk of severe disease.

Researchers set out to determine whether risks of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death were diminished by vaccination, even in individuals for whom vaccination failed to prevent hospitalisation. Using data from Canadas Case and Contact Management database and Ontarios vaccination and reporting database (COVaxON), they conducted a time-matched cohort of 20,064 adults (3,353 vaccinated and 16,711 unvaccinated) hospitalised with COVID-19 between January 1, 2021 and January 5, 2022. The study was restricted to adults with a first COVID-19 infection.The majority of participants (69%) were aged 50 or older, and most were men (54%).

Because the dominant variant and public health response changed over time, each vaccinated individual was matched with up to five unvaccinated individuals based on test date of positive SARS-CoV-2 infection.Modelling was used to assess the risk of ICU admission (adjusted for age group, sex, healthcare worker, long-term care, underlying illness, and infecting variant) and death (adjusted for age group, sex, long-term care, comorbidity, and infecting variant). Further unmatched analyses were performed to identify differences in vaccine effects.

The researchers found that vaccination with one, two, or three doses significantly reduced the risk of ICU admission and death.And an inverse dose-response relationship was observed between vaccine doses, with each additional dose reducing the likelihood of ICU admission by 34%, and the odds of dying by 22%. No significant differences in risk were seen regardless of the infecting variant.

Even with the diminished efficacy of vaccines against infection with novel variants of concerns, our findings indicate that vaccines remain a vital tool for reducing ICU admission and death from COVID-19, says Grima.

This is an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, and due to the relatively recent emergence of the Omicron variant, as well as lags, the results lacked statistical power to estimate Omicron-specific protections. Also, the authors were unable to ensure that the effects observed are not at least in part due to residual confounding Finally, they cannot rule out the possibility that other unmeasured factors, such as previous natural infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the unvaccinated cohort, may have affected the results.

Reference:Grima AA, Murison KR, Simmons AE, Tuite AR, Fisman DN. Relative virulence of SARS-CoV-2 among vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2. 2022.02.15.22271016. doi:10.1101/2022.02.15.22271016

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Even Partial COVID-19 Vaccination Lowers Risk of ICU Admission - Technology Networks

GOV. JUSTICE CALLS SPECIAL SESSION OF LEGISLATUREGov. Justice took time out of his remarks on COVID-19 to discuss the Special Session of the West Virginia Legislature that he called for today; Monday, April 25.

The purpose of the Special Session was to give the Legislature the opportunity during April Legislative Interim Meetings to address bills from the Regular Session that were vetoed for purely technical reasons, among other items.

Earlier Monday, the Governor amended his call to include an additional item for consideration; a supplemental appropriation for $250 million to the Economic Enhancement Grant Fund. Working together with the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council and the West Virginia Department of Economic Development, the fund will provide matching grants to municipalities for use in upgrading infrastructure such as water and sewer systems.

These are major dollars and they are badly needed to help make life better for so many West Virginians, Gov. Justice said. Unfortunately, we still have places where reliable access to these utilities is not available.

These funds will allow us to improve water and wastewater systems in communities across the state providing more reliable and efficient utilities where they are needed the most, Gov. Justice continued. I hope and pray that the Legislature will join with me to get this done. Its a huge step forward.

Click here to read more & view Special Session proclamations

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COVID-19 UPDATE: Gov. Justice: We need to keep pulling the rope together, because there's no way this thing is just flat gone. - Governor Jim Justice

2.7 million children in the Americas did not receive the vaccines needed to keep them healthy in 2020, while around 230 million people have still not received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the region

Roseau, Dominica, 25 April 2022 (PAHO) In 2020, 2.7 million children in the Americas did not receive the essential vaccines needed to keep them healthy due to interruptions in health services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, warned Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne. Gaps in vaccination coverage, including for COVID-19 vaccines, must be closed, she said.

While we labored arduously to protect our populations against COVID-19, our routine immunization programs were severely affected, Dr. Etienne said at the launch of the 20th Vaccination Week in the Americas in Roseau, Dominica. But even before COVID-19 brought the world to a sudden halt, our coverage for routine vaccines had fallen below optimal levels, she added.

According to the PAHO Director, the last two years have set back almost three decades of vaccination progress against polio and measles, creating a real risk for their reintroduction. Today we are again at the same vaccination coverage levels that we reported in 1994, when these diseases still posed a serious threat to our children, families, and communities, she said.

Dr. Etienne warned that if this situation continues, we will pay an extremely high price in loss of life, increased disabilities, and enormous financial costs.

Since the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines in the region 15 months ago, more than 66% of people in Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated. This seminal achievement is, however, not sufficient, Dr. Etienne said. There is still a long way to go to ensure that all populations at risk receive the doses that they need for protection.

The inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, and widespread vaccine hesitancy, have unmasked concerning fault lines along our regional landscape, she said, adding that this is a dilemma that must be addressed sooner rather than later. Vaccination Week is an opportunity to dispel doubts and promote the benefits of vaccination.

The Americas have led the fight in the eradication of smallpox, the elimination of polio, measles and rubella, and in the early introduction of new vaccines such as pneumococcal, human papilloma virus (HPV), and rotavirus, among others. This year, the countries and territories of the region plan to immunize around 140 million people for Vaccination Week, which celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Quotes from presidents, ministers and partners of the Americas at the Vaccination Week launch event

Reginald Austrie, Acting Prime Minister of DominicaThe support from PAHO during the past two years and before has been invaluable. Dominica has been able to fight against COVID-19, limiting the number of deaths and reducing the impact of the virus. Dominica has vaccinated more than 41% of the population, but we acknowledge that more of our people should have already received their shots. Dominica was one of the first countries in our region to receive a significant number of donations of vaccines, as well as from the COVAX Facility. Vaccines have, from early on, been available to every eligible Dominican. Access to vaccines therefore has never been a problem during this pandemic, but we recommit to increasing our vaccination numbers this week and in the coming months.

Gabriel Boric, President of ChileThere is no doubt that vaccines have had tremendous importance in our history and particularly in recent years because of the pandemic. In the face of movements that sometimes question the efficacy and meaning of these mass vaccination processes, we can only defend the achievement of science which, thanks to the collaboration of scientist all over the world, has led to the development of mechanisms to combat terrible situations like the pandemic. However, vaccination rates in countries of the Americas remain very different. We are in a situation where we can either work together to save ourselves or sink on our own.

Guillermo Lasso, President of EcuadorAfter facing the COVID pandemic, the world has understood the importance of vaccines. Not only because they have saved lives, but because they have been key to us returning to normal life. Vaccination is our best ally for preventing and protecting us from diseases. This has been proven with the dramatic reduction in COVID-19, the uncrowded hospitals and the empty ICU beds. This has been possible because of our vaccination coverage against COVID-19, which has immunized almost 9 out of 10 Ecuadorians.

Xiomara Castro, President of HondurasDuring the pandemic, regular vaccination coverage declined, which is why I have called for our national immunization programs to be strengthened and for the necessary investment to be made to ensure quality, free and universal health in our territories, particularly in areas of greater vulnerability. I join PAHO and WHO in committing to make all possible efforts to bring vaccination to all corners of the country, without discrimination and leaving no one behind.

Dr. Irving McIntyre, Minister of Health, Wellness and New Health Investment of DominicaDominicas Expanded Program of Immunization offers vaccines free of charge, at the primary health care level, throughout the life course, against diseases that include diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis and hepatitis. In 2019, we also saw the successful introduction of the HPV vaccine for adolescents which had one of the highest introductory coverage in the region, reaching approximately 92% of adolescents. More recently, we introduced the COVID-19 vaccines, with a current coverage of over 43% of the total population being fully vaccinated. In order to make the best use of COVID-19 vaccines and to accelerate vaccination uptake, we need to implement unconventional and non-traditional concepts in these unprecedented times, including the mobile vaccination team and the launch of a digital vaccination certificate.

Dr Rochelle Walensky, Director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)The decades of effort put into building immunization programs around the world, done in partnership with the countries public health programs, helped lay the foundation for our ability to vaccinate the world against COVID-19. Capitalizing on the work put in place to rapidly scale-up vaccination support for COVID-19 will provide many future dividends as we vaccinate against other diseases. We will only achieve our goals by working together. You have the United States government as your partners in this work.

Dr Carla Barnett, Secretary-general of the Caribbean Community (CARICOMVaccination has allowed the Caribbean to eliminate measles, smallpox, poliomyelitis, and rubella and congenital rubella syndrome. Unfortunately, according to PAHO, there is a less than average uptake of COVID-19 vaccines as well as an observable change in the trajectory of childhood immunizations. In order to address the issue of vaccine hesitancy, the CARICOM Secretariat is collaborating with CARPHA, PAHO, civil society and others to redouble and accelerate public information and education efforts to address disinformation, myths and other drivers and enablers of vaccine hesitancy.

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PAHO Director calls for immunization gaps to be closed for all vaccines, including COVID-19 - Pan American Health Organization

**Goma, 25 April 2022 ** I work at the border, exactly at the barrier, explains Ms Mweze, who works with the Congolese immigration services at the Grande Barrire in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, right at the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with Rwanda.

The close to 90-million people nation is bordered by nine countries: Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. As such, immigration agents like Ms Mweze are essential for ensuring that COVID-19 preventive measures are observed.

North Kivu one of the country's 26 provinces has over 10 million inhabitants. It shares borders with Rwanda and Uganda, as well as nine official points of entry. Prior to the pandemic, an average of 95,000 people used these points to cross the border between Rwanda and DR Congo each day.

We are in touch with people on a daily basis, which exposes us to all sorts of diseases. Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 was a priority, Ms Mweze explains.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with recurrent Ebola outbreaks, disease surveillance measures have been put in place at points of entry in North Kivu by the National Programme for Border Hygiene (PNHF) with support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to prevent, detect and control the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccination in North Kivu started in May 2021 and targeted health-care workers and people aged 18 and over. Out of the 170 COVID-19 vaccination sites planned by Government authorities in the province, 137 had been operational up until this February, yet none at the busy points of entry in North Kivu.

To fill this gap, the Ministry of Health, with IOMs technical support, set up temporary vaccination sites at points of entry to better reach communities living along the border who didnt have access to the vaccination programme until then.

Each vaccination site comprises a waiting and registration area, a pre-vaccination consultation area, a vaccine administration area and a post-vaccination observation area, and each team includes two doctors, two nurses and two data officers, as well as a team leader.

IOM is also supporting the provision of medical supplies and personal protection equipment, including surgical masks, examination gloves and fluid resistant isolation gowns, and IT Equipment such as tablets, laptops and internet modems.

In addition, IOM has been strengthening the capacities of frontline health workers and other staff in support of the countrys Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). The activities include training sessions on vaccine safety, monitoring and management of adverse events following immunizations (AEFI), and risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) techniques related to COVID-19 vaccination.

The ongoing vaccination campaign targets migrants, national and international travellers, frontline workers and local communities living along Grande Barrire, including small business owners at risk of COVID-19 infection due to high cross-border mobility.

Ms Mweze is one of the over 1,000 people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in a little over a month at the vaccination site at Grand Barrire, DRCs point of entry with the highest number of people crossing in a day.

It was clean, quick and painless, she says. I am hypertensive, so they took extra precautions before vaccinating me. I felt like I was in good hands.

The success of the joint efforts of DRCs health services and programmes showcased the need for a multisectoral and coordinated approach that would increase vaccination coverage and reduce the mismatch between demand and supply of COVID-19 vaccination services.

IOM plans to support the provision of COVID-19 vaccination to other communities along the borders as well as the set-up of a similar vaccination site at Gomas International Airport.

To boost vaccine demand, IOM is also supporting a national awareness-raising campaign, which allows those living around points of entry and along the border to provide feedback on the response.

A recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Health with support from IOM showed that roughly 66 per cent of those passing through the point of entry at Grande Barrire had received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the same survey, more than half of the travellers who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19 were willing to get vaccinated.

We have noticed a huge increase in travellers interested in getting vaccinated here, says Dr Gervais Kakule, Team Lead Physician at the vaccination site at the Grande Barrire in Goma. More and more people these days are aware about the dangers of COVID-19 and the benefits of getting vaccinated.

With COVID-19 still rampant in DRC and beyond, Ms Mweze thinks its imperative to prioritize our health and that of our loved ones. I wanted to get vaccinated because I need to protect myself and my family, she says.

The pandemic is not over yet. You can still catch it at church, at the market wherever there are lots of people. We all need to do our part and get vaccinated, Ms Mweze explains.

IOMs vaccination programme in DR Congo is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

This story was written by Daco Tambilika and Dr Bantu Kalimba with IOM DR Congo.

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