TANZANIA SURPASSES 50% COVID-19 VACCCINATION COVERAGE

The remarkable increase from less than 10 per cent coverage with a primary series in January 2022 is a result of continued efforts by the government and health stakeholders in rolling out relevant strategies to sustain COVID-19 vaccination amidst competing health priorities – and a tribute to the value and commitment of health-care workers and community volunteers who literally went the extra mile to reach the population.

The country has also aimed to integrate COVID-19 vaccination with routine immunisation, as seen in the recent integrated measles campaign in the Katavi Region in February this year. The country has additionally relied on innovative approaches such as civil society partnerships with government to raise awareness and combat hesitance.

Dr. Derrick Sim, Acting Managing Director of the COVAX Facility, the global effort to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, comments on Tanzania’s progress:

“Tanzania has developed some highly innovative approaches on how to roll out COVID-19 vaccines and at the same time, catch up on routine immunisation programmes.

The country’s progress and commitment shown by government and partners to protect people against COVID-19 is commendable and demonstrates that countries can develop the ability to deal with multiple immunisation priorities at the same time. Vaccines remain our best tool against severe disease, hospitalization, and death – protecting people and ensuring health systems are able to handle other priorities.”  

Among the innovative approaches by Tanzania include an initiative by Access Challenge, a local civil society organisation which saw taxi operators on the forefront of mobilizing communities to fight vaccine hesitancy and drive vaccine uptake.

“We have found that innovative approaches such as working with influencers from all sectors of society, engaging tuk tuks /bajajis (three wheeled taxis) and creating community based vaccination events were key drivers in reaching a larger audience and getting more people vaccinated. Having achieved 50% vaccination coverage, Tanzania is a great example that highlights the power of the right government leadership, partnerships, and multi-sectoral collaboration to advance critical public health goals. When all sectors of society come together, great progress is made, and this is evident through our campaign that has been able to reach over 38 million people across the country,” Asad Lilani, Director of Political Strategy and Tanzania Campaign Lead. 

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Pictures and other information related to the start of the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in Tanzania are available here and here.

*Source: WHO COVID-19 Dashboard

Notes for editors:

• • Dr Derrick Sim is a medical doctor and global expert in building healthy vaccine markets to ensure access in lower-income countries. Read more about Dr Sim here.

• • Gavi leads procurement and delivery at scale for COVAX, a partnership between Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), WHO and UNICEF that is aimed at ensuring equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

• • So far, COVAX has delivered more than 1.9 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 146 countries around the world. In addition, COVAX has provided more than US$1.5 billion to help lower-income countries turn vaccines into vaccinations.

• • In Jan 2022, Gavi, WHO and UNICEF set up the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership to provide targeted support to the countries furthest behind – helping reduce the number of countries under 10% coverage from 34 countries to 6. Some, like Somalia, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Tanzania and Cote d’Ivoire, have made incredible progress – pushing coverage rates to 30% and beyond.

• • Gavi has been supporting routine immunization in lower-income countries and global outbreak response since 2000. The Alliance has introduced more than 560 new vaccines and immunized more than 1 billion additional unique children – helping halve childhood mortality in Gavi-supported countries.

• •  Find out more about this work here. 

For expert insights and original content and stories from around the world, visit Gavi’s online digital platform VaccinesWork.

About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 981 million children – and prevented more than 16.2 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the zero-dose children who have not received even a single vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Gavi is a co-convener of COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, together with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. In its role, Gavi is focused on procurement and delivery for COVAX: coordinating the design, implementation and administration of the COVAX Facility and the Gavi COVAX AMC and working with its Alliance partners UNICEF and WHO, along with governments, on country readiness and delivery.

The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organisations that fund Gavi’s work here.