The World Bank says gaps remain in the readiness of countries to safely deploy Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate citizens.
The World Bank’s assertion follows an assessment of 128 low- and middle-income countries in terms of their readiness to safely deploy the vaccines.
The assessment focused on ten key indicators including; cold chain & logistics, population prioritization, budgeting, training of healthcare personnel, safety surveillance among others.
According to the Bretton Wood Institution, its initial findings indicate 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 the large number of vaccinators who will be needed and only 27 per cent have created social mobilization and public engagement strategies to encourage people to get vaccinated.
“Many developing countries are 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,” said Mamta Murthi, Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank.
Given the worrying vaccine hesitancy, the World Bank noted strategies to generate confidence, acceptance and demand for vaccines are urgently needed.
Adding fair, broad, and fast access to effective and safe COVID-19 vaccines, especially in poor countries, is vital to saving lives and strengthening 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,” said the World Bank.
The World Bank’s assessment of countries readiness further shows that;
- Although countries have gaps in readiness, most have prepared well enough across most essential areas to begin their immunization drives as soon as they receive vaccines.
- Existence of well-functioning child immunization national delivery systems is not a strong predictor of country readiness to deliver vaccines for adults, such as COVID-19 vaccines.
- A weak correlation between 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.
