Ethiopia launches a COVID-19 vaccination campaign targeting the 12 years and above population

On 16 November 2021, the Federal Ministry of Health (MoH) launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign aiming to vaccinate people aged 12 years and above.

The Ministry has deployed over 28,000 vaccinators and more than 6.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the campaign, namely, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson/Janssen, and Pfizer-BioNTech.  These vaccines will be used for the campaign together with vaccines that had been deployed earlier. 

Only Pfizer-BioNTech will be administered to the 12-18 years age group in 62 cities, while the other vaccines will be administered to those aged 18 years and older across the country in all accessible regions, zones and districts. 

Speaking at a press conference to mark the beginning of the campaign, Honorable Minister of Health, Dr Lia Tadesse urged the public to use this opportunity to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their families from this deadly disease. 

Aiming to improve vaccine uptake, the MoH has launched a communication campaign with support from WHO Ethiopia. Through this campaign, the Ministry is transmitting information and calls to get vaccinated through short messaging system (SMS), different radio stations, and national television.

WHO Representative to Ethiopia, Dr Bouriema Hama Sambo urged, “We have the tools to stop the spread of COVID-19. Get vaccinated and adhere to the proven preventive public health measures of maintaining distance, wearing masks, keeping hands clean, and opening windows to keep spaces ventilated. He added, “WHO is committed to continue supporting the Federal Ministry of Health in the response to COVID-19 and other health emergencies.”

WHO has been supporting the planning, coordination, and implementation of this COVID-19 vaccination campaign by deploying 46 technical experts for direct technical support, supervision, and monitoring. The organization has also made technical and financial contributions to the communication and demand generation activities as well as operations and logistical support to the campaign.

Several health and immunizaiton partners, namely, UNICEF, AMREF, Resolve to Save Lives Fund, Save the Children, PATH, USAID, Alive & Thrive, Clinton Health Action Initiative and Johns Hopkins University, are also supporting this campaign.

As of 24 November 2021, a total of 370,712 confirmed cases and 6,702 deaths have been reported in Ethiopia, and more than 5.4 million people have been vaccinated.