Manyara- Under the theme of 'The Big Catch-Up', Tanzania, with the technical and financial support of World Health Organization (WHO) and partners launched a 7-day vaccination campaign, with emphasis on integration of COVID 19 Vaccination with routine immunization. The campaign aims at accelerating progress  in routine immunization for children while sustaining current momentum for COVID-19 vaccination especially for the elderly, health care workers and people living with comorbidities. 

WHO Representative to Tanzania, Dr. Zabulon Yoti, represented by the Vaccine Surveillance Officer, Dr. Boniphace Makelemo, stated that the integration of Africa Vaccination Week with COVID-19 vaccination aims at keeping immunization high on the national and regional agendas without losing sight on sustaining the current vaccination trend for COVID-19 vaccination through advocacy and partnerships.

“The uniqueness of AVW 2023 in Tanzania is the integration with COVID-19 vaccination because it provides opportunities for children, caregivers, and adults to be protected at the same time with vaccines that they missed earlier or are eligible to receive,” says Yoti.

The aim is to fully explore the potential for reaching eligible children with appropriate routine vaccines that they may have missed due to disruption by the COVID-19 outbreak while sustaining COVID-19 vaccination, given the evolving epidemiological nature of the pandemic. In an integrated manner, measles vaccination, HPV, oral polio vaccine, and COVID-19 vaccinations were offered to eligible children and adults. 

Flagging off the campaign, the Minister of Health represented by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tumaini Nagu reiterated the importance of the Africa Vaccination Week especially as COVID-19 has affected every aspect of the health system including routine immunization.

With funding support from the Canadian government, WHO is helping Tanzania to implement the provision of COVID-19 vaccination alongside other health interventions as a package of services in an integrated approach to revamp routine immunization and other PHCs. Currently, a national guideline for COVID-19 integration is being developed with WHO technical support to provide a definition and principles for integrating COVID-19 vaccination into immunization programmes, PHC and other relevant health services.

The guideline will provide key steps on how to operationalize integration of COVID-19 vaccination at national and subnational level, assess readiness, develop a plan, and identify short-term capacities and investment.

African Vaccination Week is an annual campaign celebrated during the last week of April in synchronization with the other WHO Regions and the World Immunization Week (WIW). It is led and coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa and implemented by countries. The goal of the AVW is to strengthen immunization programmes in the African Region by increasing awareness of the importance of every person’s (particularly every child and woman) need and right to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.