Publications

The biannual meeting of the Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (RITAG) of the African region was conducted from 18-19 November 2020. The virtual meeting was attended by more than 250 global immunization experts. Participants included RITAG members, National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) members of countries in the African region, representatives of development partners and donors, immunization programme managers of countries in the African region, and WHO and UNICEF immunization experts in the African region.

The meeting deliberated on three important issues: First, the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 vaccine issues; second, the state of immunization services amidst COVID-19 and future strategies to revamp services; and third, the current state of polio eradication challenges, such as the growing number of circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Viruses type 2 (cVDPV2) and proposed responses.

A series of guiding and informative presentations were made by managers and focal points that lead the aforementioned issues. Presenters were from WHO/AFRO, WHO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization. The RITAG members provided key recommendations for implementation by WHO, partners and countries in order to address the challenges and issues identified in the presentations and discussions. The recommendations generally emphasized on ensuring fair and equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines for the region and priority populations. They also underlined the need to ensure immunization services are revamped and continued amid COVID-19. Additionally, the recommendations included measures to ensure the region maintains its wild polio free status.