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Africa CDC Releases New Country Research on Scale-Up of COVID Vaccines
10 May 2022
A newly released analysis finds that scale-up speed, a focus on at-risk populations and the choice of COVID-19 vaccine brands are critical to structuring successful programs in the African context.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention today released the results of a new 27-country analysis on the health and economic impact of COVID-19 vaccination.  The retrospective study on the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine programmes demonstrated that earlier start dates and rapid scale-up delivered greater health benefits – measured in terms of hospitalizations and deaths averted – and were more cost-effective when compared with programs that started later and scaled more slowly. Furthermore, the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines vary widely depending on the pace of roll-out, the population targeted, and the type of vaccines used in the campaigns. The analysis also drew on research from Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa.

The analysis demonstrated that vaccine programs deliver the best value for money when focused on the most vulnerable, including the elderly, pregnant women, health workers and those with comorbidities. This is especially true in countries with a low overall risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19, such as nations with younger populations or that have already had significant exposure to the virus. In Kenya, researchers found that scaling up to 30% of the population, but focusing on the elderly, was far more effective than reaching 70% coverage of the general population. Nigerian researchers found the same result when modelling targeted scale-up to 25% of the population.

“The evidence is clear – countries should aim to vaccinate those most at risk, as quickly as possible, with the most cost-effective vaccines available to them,” said Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Deputy Director of the Africa CDC. “This is how we can save the most lives and deliver the highest value for money.”…

Link to full report: https://africacdc.org/download/epidemiological-and-economic-impact-of-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-scenarios-in-africa/