The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted every aspect of the lives and livelihoods of everybody in the world since March 2020. Africa was predicated to be the most highly vulnerable regions to be severely affected by  pandemic due the weak health system including surveillance and pre-existing fragility of health care infrastructure. One of the best available preventive measures against COVID-19  is mass vaccination of all vulnerable populations with any of the WHO approved vaccines. These vaccines were rapidly  developed, and therefore WHO made the important recommendation that selected countries introducing these vaccines for mass vaccination should conduct vaccine effectiveness (VE) studies. The new COVID-19 vaccination rollouts were implemented from March 2021 in the African region, with over 850 million doses delivered as of October 2023. The vaccine coverage for complete primary series  varies between 0–86% in the general population. 31.2% of the WHO African Region population has received at least two 2 doses of vaccines. 

In the context of changing epidemiology, and the rapid development and roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines approved for emergency use based on limited data, monitoring COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) is a high priority. VE estimates can provide evidence to strengthen vaccination strategies and policies including administration of booster doses and dose schedules, and information for antigenic matching to circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2. 

The WHO Regional Office for Africa launched the African Region Monitoring Vaccine Effectiveness (AFRO-MoVE) network in May 2021 to support and coordinate VE studies in the region. Generic protocols and guidelines were developed and Network disseminated to all countries.  Webinars and workshops are held every 2 months, with the aims to: 

• Create and maintain a regional network of vaccine effectiveness (VE) technical experts   

• Conducting a landscape of ongoing and planned studies in the region   

• Rapidly share findings to inform policy decisions  

• Encourage the use of standard study designs for multicenter studies  

• Establish a data platform for pooled VE estimates  

• Building regional capacities for VE for other pathogens  

• Advocate for and mobilize resources for VE studies in the region  

• Enable and inform a regional strategy for monitoring VE

The network comprised of more than 30 partner institutions from 21 countries including National Institutes of Public Health, Ministries of Health, academic and scientific institutions, funding organisations and relevant stakeholders. 

The WHO Regional Office for Africa launched the African Region Monitoring Vaccine Effectiveness (AFRO-MoVE) network in May 2021 to support and coordinate VE studies in the region. Network webinars and workshops are held every 2 months, with the aim of:

• Create and maintain a regional network of vaccine effectiveness(VE) experts  

• Landscaping ongoing and planned studies in the region  

• Rapidly share findings to inform policy decisions 

• Encouraging the use of standard study designs for multicentre studies 

• Establish a data platform for pooled VE estimates 

• Building regional capacities for VE for other pathogens 

• Advocate for and mobilise resources for VE studies in the region 

• Enable and inform a regional strategy for monitoring VE 

AFRO-Unity Vaccine Effectiveness generic protocols

• Guidance Document Cohort study to measure COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness among health worke
• COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) hospitalisations associated with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2

Presentations and Publications

Presentation/Virtual Poster at the OPTION XI for the control of Influenza, International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases in Belfast September 26-29, 2023, “AFRO-MoVE: Establishment of the first African network to monitor vaccine effectiveness for COVID-19 and other respiratory pathogens” 

Poster at the 7th African Network for Influenza Surveillance and Epidemiology (ANISE) meeting - September 11-13, 2023- Johannesburg, South Africa 

Previous meetings and workshops

1. Assessment and training mission to Kintampo
   Ghana, 20-25^th Feb 2023
2. AFRO-MoVE Bi-Monthly Workshop
   02-March 2023
3. COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness in Africa and SE Asia
   Cape Town, South Africa, 27^th March 2023
   Download the agenda
4. AFRO-MoVE Network Steering Committee Meeting
   27^th March 2023
5. The 7th African Network for Influenza Surveillance and Epidemiology (ANISE) meeting
   September 11-13, 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa
6. AFRO-MoVE Network Steering Committee Meeting
   21st September 2023
7. Assessement and training mission to Uganda
   25th September to 28th September 2023​​​​​​​
8. Workshop: pooling methods for VE
   15th of November 2023
9. AFRO-MoVE Network meeting / webinar
   7th of December 2023