Call on ESA countries to restore immunization progress lost during the pandemic

News Release
Addis Ababa- 22 June 2023 - With most countries in East and Southern African (ESA) experiencing significant declines in routine immunization coverage rates due to the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions, National Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) Managers have adopted recommendations to restore immunization coverage and reach more people with lifesaving vaccines across the life course at their recently ended three-day meeting in Addis Ababa.

The recommendations focused on improving four main areas namely, routine immunization recovery and restoration, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine revitalization, Malaria vaccine introduction, integrated service delivery for COVID-19 vaccination, as well as life course vaccination among others.

As the first face-to-face EPI Managers’ meeting following the COVID-19 pandemic interruptions, the meeting aimed to monitor the progress towards regional goals and targets and share country experiences on immunization activities

The meeting was officially opened by Ethiopia’s State Minister for Health, Dr Dereje Duguma who called on participants to continue working towards reducing vaccine preventable diseases and deaths. He congratulated them for their commitment to vaccinate children and adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I believe a robust immunization programme remains the backbone of health systems. It offers an opportunity for truly progressive universal health care to strengthen national health systems,” Dr. Duguma said.

Dr Nonhlanhla Dlamini WHO Representative a.i. to Ethiopia, added her voice by applauding health workers for their hard work during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said it was commendable that ESA countries had continued introducing new vaccines such as Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), Rotavirus, Inactivated Poliovirus (IPV2) and Malaria vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She however expressed concern over the large number of unvaccinated children recently recorded in ESA countries. Consequently, a significant number of ESA countries had experienced multiple vaccine preventable outbreaks such as measles and polio.

“It is concerning that to date millions of children are yet to be reached with life-saving vaccines in our sub-region. We call upon us all to deliberate on developing solutions that ensure that every eligible individual is reached and receives lifesaving vaccines,” said Dr Dlamini.

During the meeting, countries shared their experience and learnings on various coordination mechanisms that have worked well in countries, integration of COVID-19 vaccination and other lifesaving activities into routine immunization, village health teams-led defaulter tracing and catchup of zero dose children, cervical cancer screening during immunization clinic visits for mothers, and other innovative approaches to keep track of children being reached and vaccinated.

UNICEF East and Southern African Regional office coordinator for Child Health assured the participants of immunization partners coordinated support to implement the agreed upon recommendations.

Over 150 participants drawn from EPI managers, WHO, UNICEF and immunization partner organizations have attended the meeting. The ESA countries are Botswana, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.