Kinshasa, DR Congo (PANA) – A major part of the largest emergency vaccination campaign against yellow fever ever attempted in Africa has been completed, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced, saying more than 7.7 million people were vaccinated in record time in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“This has been accomplished through an extraordinary network of partnerships and collaborations,” said a WHO press statement issued late Friday. “In less than two weeks, the campaign successfully reached the targeted population of Kinshasa, most of them (7.3 million people) using an emergency vaccine – one-fifth of the full dose of yellow fever vaccine.”
The dose sparing strategy was recommended by the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) as a short-term emergency measure to reach as many people as possible given limited supplies of the vaccine.
“WHO commends the Government of the DRC for this significant achievement to roll out such a complex campaign in such a short period of time,” said Dr. Yokouide Allarangar, WHO Representative in the DRC.
Planning a mass vaccination campaign on this scale usually takes up to six months. This complex and ambitious emergency campaign was put in place in a matter of weeks to end transmission of yellow fever before the rainy season starts in September.
The dose sparing strategy required the purchase and shipment of 10 million specialized syringes as well as specific training of more than 40,000 vaccinators to use the new method.
The Ministry of Public Health, WHO and more than 50 global partners worked closely together through the complex planning and logistics needed to roll out the campaign in more than 8,000 locations across the country – both in dense, urban areas and in hard-to-reach, remote border regions.
