National Covid-19 Deployment and Vaccination Plan
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NATIONAL COVID-19 DEPLOYMENT AND VACCINATION PLAN SURINAME 2021 Endorsement COVID-19 started at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province in China. Due to the rapid spread to several countries with, increasing reports of morbidity and mortality, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020, and a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Suriname detected its first case of the disease on Friday, March 13, 2020. Since December 2020, the country is experiencing the second wave of the disease, and the increasing cases and deaths are of concern to the country. In the absence of definitive therapeutic options for the management and control of this disease, vaccination as a primary prevention measure is a good option for the control of the disease in terms of saving lives through reduction of severe disease and deaths. The COVAX Facility is a mechanism for the equitable access to various vaccine options, and Suriname has signed onto this facility to receive allocation of vaccine doses which have received approval from the WHO and other Stringent Regulatory Authorities. In order to protect the population against the disease, the Government of Suriname has appointed the “Technical Advisory Commission Immunization Policy COVID-19” for the general management and monitoring of the COVID-19 situation in Suriname, and a “Vaccination Committee” to develop a vaccination plan and to guide the implementation of this plan. Relevant Ministries of the Government of Suriname, and relevant public and private institutions have been involved in the planning of the campaign, and will continue their support to the further implementation of this plan. Specific measures with regard to funding of the campaign, as well as facilitating the approval of the vaccine for use by the Registration Commission, tax exemptions, customs clearance, safe arrival, receipt, and storage of the vaccine and ancillary needs, have been taken. The vaccination campaign will start soon after the arrival of the first batch of vaccines, that will cover up to 3% of the population, beginning with the first priority group of frontline healthcare workers. Suriname is open to consider at due time the availability of other vaccines that may be beneficial in terms of cost, dosing schedule, cold chain storage requirements and other factors. The vaccination plan has been developed to consider all possible options. The Ministry of Health is thankful for the efforts made, and those that will continue to be made by all stakeholders and partners towards a successful fight against this disease. A. Ramadhin, MD Minister of Health Republic of Suriname 1 Table of contents Contents Endorsement .............................................................................................................................. 1 Table of contents ........................................................................................................................ 2 Executive summary .................................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 7 2. Regulatory preparedness................................................................................................... 11 3. Planning and coordination of the vaccine introduction .................................................... 13 4. Resources and funding...................................................................................................... 15 5. Target populations and vaccination strategies .................................................................. 17 6. Supply chain management and health care waste management ....................................... 36 7. Human resource management and training ...................................................................... 39 8. Vaccine acceptance and uptake ........................................................................................ 42 9. Vaccine safety monitoring and management of AEFI and injection safety ..................... 44 10. Immunization monitoring system ................................................................................... 45 11. Disease surveillance ....................................................................................................... 46 12. Evaluation of introduction of COVID-19 vaccines ....................................................... 46 Annex 1: Detailed budget for the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign ................................. 48 Annex 2: ESAVI ................................................................................................................... 53 Annex 3: Terms of Reference for the National Coordination Team .................................... 58 Annex 4: Implementation Plan ............................................................................................. 61 2 Executive summary Since December 2019, there have been more than 101 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including more than 1.2 million deaths. In order to control the pandemic, in addition to preventive hygiene measures, effective vaccines are needed to protect against COVID-19, especially in the pursuit of a situation without restrictions on international travel and trade including lockdowns, quarantine and isolation. A global effort to develop vaccines has been underway since the start of COVID-19. Several vaccine candidates are in various stages of development and to date, some of these have already received Emergency Use Listing by the WHO. Others are expected to receive similar approval for emergency use in the very near future. Suriname has committed itself to the COVAX Facility, the vaccine arm of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT) which aims to facilitate equitable access to 2 billion doses of vaccines for countries by the end of 2021.Through this agreement, Suriname already has the guarantee of receiving vaccines to be able to vaccinate 20% of its population. This plan carefully develops the important processes and procedures required for vaccine regulatory approval, arrival, storage, distribution, administration, registration, logistics, surveillance, reporting, safety monitoring and evaluation. This documentation is necessary in preparation for a responsible and successful course of the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The plan follows the “WHO Guidance on Developing a National Deployment and Vaccination plan for COVID-19 vaccines” and contains the following main components, with an estimated budget of USD 16,047,881 for the vaccination of the identified priority groups. Component 1. Introduction 2. Regulatory preparedness 3. Planning and coordination of the vaccine introduction 4. Resources and funding 5. Target populations and vaccination strategies 6. Supply chain management and health care waste management 7. Human resources management and training 8. Vaccine acceptance and uptake 9. Vaccine safety monitoring and management of AEFI’s and injection safety 10. Immunization monitoring system 11. Disease Surveillance 12. Evaluation of introduction of COVID-19 vaccines The National COVID-19 Deployment and Vaccination Plan is an important and necessary condition to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The Technical Advisory Commission Immunization Policy COVID-19 is a multidisciplinary group of national experts responsible for providing independent, evidence-based advice to policy makers and program managers on policy issues related to immunization and vaccines. The committee is able to review the international and regional policy guidelines of the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and the PAHO Regional Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (RITAG), taking into account the national context, national priorities and disease epidemiology. The committee will regularly review, revise and update its recommendations to national policymakers, as new evidence becomes available. 3 The Government of Suriname is committed to follow international actions and procedures to save lives, and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, by implementing all relevant actions, including vaccination of its population, in order of priority groups that have been identified by the Technical Advisory Commission Immunization Policy COVID-19. Supporting sub-committees and teams have been identified to support the work of this Technical Advisory Commission: - The National Coordination team to present this Plan and lead the campaign activities, with support of sub groups for: • Personnel: mobilization, training, evaluation. • Finances: Funding, budget management, coordination of payments to service providers and personnel. • Information/Education: Development and dissemination of informational material and messaging to generate demand. • Logistics and Transportation: Vaccine clearance, mobilization of transportation, distribution schedules. • Supply chain management: Forecasting procurement, stock management, materials for the teams and vaccination sites. • Secretarial support: keeping notes of meetings, consolidation of reports by supervisors, consolidation of administrative information, and supervision of the end report. • Partnerships: Coordination of contact with external organizations, mobilization of private sector, donations and sponsoring. - The Implementation Team, with the rayon (district area) coordinators of the Medical Mission