World Bank cites lack of vaccination training
MOST governments in low- and middle-income countries managed to come up with a coronavirus vaccination plan, but few trained people to give the shots, according to the World Bank.
About 85% of 128 economies had vaccination plans, while 68% had safety systems for the rollout, it said in a study.
But only 30% trained people to give the vaccines, while 27% came up with public information campaigns, the World Bank said. It did not name the countries in the study.
“Most countries are approaching the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) vaccine rollout as an emergency and are emphasizing speed and expediency over deliberative system-strengthening,” it said.
“As a result, they are missing out on the benefits of long-lasting improvements that a systems approach could bring,” it added.
The World Bank also cited the slow progress in training health staff to conduct surveillance of vaccination events.
“Social mobilization and public engagement strategies also have not been enunciated in most countries. As a result, advocacy, community engagement and risk and safety communication remain largely unaddressed,” it added. — BML
