WHO successfully completes largest-ever yellow fever vaccination effort

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday confirmed that a major part of the largest emergency vaccination campaign against yellow fever attempted in Africa has been completed.

The campaign successfully vaccinated 7.7 million people in less than two weeks targeting the population of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). For the effort, the WHO utilized an emergency vaccine, which is one-fifth of the full dose of yellow fever vaccine. The decreased-dose strategy was recommended by the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) as a short-term emergency strategy to reach as many people as possible, given the 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,” Dr. Yokouide Allarangar, representative for the WHO in the DRC, said.

To successfully complete the project, WHO’s dose-sparing strategy required the purchase of 10 million specialized syringes and the training of more than 40,000 vaccinators. Vaccinations were administered in more than 8,000 locations across the country, including hard to reach remote border regions.

The United National International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) worked to ensure needed infrastructure was in place and led social mobilizers on the ground to engage communities and encourage people to get vaccinated.

Organizations that assisted in the project include the World Food Program, Médecins sans Frontières, the Red Cross of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Save the Children, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Bank.