A collection of campaign stories captured and curated by Linksbridge SPC
Featured Stories
Côte d’Ivoire launched an Ebola vaccination campaign on August 16 for high-risk populations—including health workers and first responders—in Abidjan, just two days after declaring an outbreak. Vaccine doses secured by WHO to fight the filovirus in neighboring Guinea earlier this year were quickly sent to Côte d’Ivoire, including 2,000 doses of Merck’s rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine for a “ring strategy” deployment and 3,000 doses of J&J’s product to be used to boost preventative vaccination in areas not experiencing active transmission. WHO
Madagascar launched a national malaria bed net distribution campaign on August 24, aiming to deliver over 15 million long-lasting insecticide-treated nets in 101 districts, protecting over 22 million people. Madagascar MoH
Spotlight on Covid-19 Campaigns
India is racing to stave off a third wave of infections as it continues the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drive, aiming to inoculate its entire population by the end of the year. The country has administered more than 600 million doses since January, and for the past month, has given on average 5.3 million jabs a day—far less than the estimated 10 million-plus daily doses needed to meet its end 2021 goal. About 57,000 centers, mostly state-run, are offering shots, but people can also pay for doses at private facilities. BBC
Countries are considering mixing and matching different vaccines for second doses or booster shots in response to supply delays and safety concerns that have slowed Covid-19 vaccination campaigns. On August 1, Cambodia began to offer a booster shot of AstraZeneca’s vaccine for people fully inoculated with Sinovac’s and vice versa. Turkey, in mid-August, started to allow people vaccinated with Sinovac’s jab to receive an additional Pfizer-made dose as the country looks to ease residents’ travel to countries that have not approved the Chinese product. And Indonesia is considering offering a third booster dose to healthcare workers immunized with Sinovac’s vaccine, since thousands of them are testing positive for Covid-19. Reuters
Outbreak Response
Several Nigerian states conducted a coordinated polio outbreak response campaign July 31-August 4 to curtail the spread of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDP2). Kano state reached 3,297,347 children under age 5 with novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) drops, and Abia state vaccinated 1,077,562 children in 10,934 communities from 17 local government areas (LGAs). WHO Nigeria; WHO Nigeria
Nigeria’s Bauchi state conducted the first part of a reactive oral cholera vaccination campaign in July, in a bid to curb the ongoing outbreak that has affected 19 of the 20 LGAs. The five-day exercise (which ended July 28) administered OCV drops to 710,212 people age 1 and above. WHO Nigeria
Gambia is “preparing for at least two massive supplementary polio vaccination rounds” in response to a recent polio outbreak. Each campaign round will target 382,908 children under age 5, aiming to vaccinate all under-5 children in Gambia. The country declared a public health emergency on August 18 after two cases of poliovirus type 2 were found in environmental sewage samples in Banjul and Kotu. The Voice; Africanews
Local Campaigns
Pakistan’s polio subnational immunization days event kicked off on August 2, aiming to reach more than 23.6 million children in 68 districts of all four provinces. Approximately 179,000 health workers will go house-to-house to administer the vaccinations. The beginning of the campaign was marked with several instances of violence, with police officers assigned to protect polio vaccination teams killed or wounded in the Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and South Waziristan districts. Pakistan MoH; AP News
India’s Jharkhand state ran a mass drug administration (MDA) drive against filariasis August 23-27, targeting 17.8 million people in 12 districts. 11 districts (Chatra, Dumka, East Singhbhum, Garhwa, Giridih, Godda, Hazaribag, Khunti, Lohardaga, Ranchi, West Singhbhum) distributed the two-drug regimen of diethylcarbamazine citrate and albendazole (DA), and the district of Simdega (as part of a pilot project) dispensed a triple-drug regimen of ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine citrate, and albendazole (IDA). The Telegraph; Times of India
Ghana is conducting its biannual mass drug administration campaign against onchocerciasis August 23-September 3, targeting 4,740,039 people in 66 endemic districts across 13 regions (Ahafo, Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Eastern, North East, Northern, Oti, Savannah, Upper East, Upper West, Western, and Western North.) Ghana Health Service; Graphic Online
Sierra Leone kicked off a subnational polio immunization drive August 27, targeting 520,000 children under age 5 with nOPV drops. During the four-day mop-up campaign, frontline health workers went house-to-house in the Tonkolili, Western Area Urban, and Western Area Rural districts. WHO Sierra Leone
Uganda’s National Medical Stores (NMS) ran a yellow fever vaccination drive for people ages 9 months to 59 years at the Mayor’s Gardens in Katabi, Entebbe from August 19-30. The fixed site drew an estimated 40,000 residents from Entebbe and the nearby suburbs, with the campaign extended from August 23 to August 30 due to high demand. PML Daily
Uganda plans to run a nationwide polio immunization campaign in October and December, with health workers going house-to-house to reach all children age 5 and under. The government declared a public health emergency on August 17, following confirmation of positive cVDPV2 environmental samples from Kampala. Uganda MoH
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) launched a measles vaccination campaign in the Jebel Marra region in South Darfur, Sudan earlier in August. MSF aims to vaccinate 95% of children ages 9 months-15 years against measles, as well as administer vitamin A supplements, across six strategic locations across South Jebel Marra: Tore, Dilli, Koya, Tale/Motor, Torung Tonga and Gulangbang. Due to the local political situation, the isolated and mountainous area has not been accessible for routine national immunization campaigns for many years. MSF