COVID-19 vaccination – still far from a celebratory moment

For the world’s poorest, ‘freedom’ from the COVID-19 pandemic is nowhere in sight – only 0.4% of vaccines have been given to people in the lowest income countries.

Of nine countries facing some of the highest risks from COVID-19 due to their fragile contexts and vulnerable populations who were recently surveyed by World Vision's global COVID-19 Response, major gaps in national vaccination deployment plans (NVDPs) were found, including: 

• Limited planning to address vaccine hesitancy: 78% of NVDPs do not have an adequate budget provision for implementation of community engagement and vaccine hesitancy interventions
• Challenges to reach the most vulnerable: 55% of NVDPs do not identify populations in humanitarian circumstances as high risk and 44% of the governments did not conduct a national vulnerability assessment for the NVDP elaboration
• Gaps in coordinating with civil society and community: 55% of the NVDPs do not have an adequate community engagement component