The clock started ticking the moment the Zambian Ministry of Health (MOH) released  130,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines across all 10 provinces in Zambia. With most of the provinces lacking ultra-cold chain storage facilities this meant the MOH teams needed to ensure that all vaccines were administered within 30-days or the doses would need to be thrown out At this time the uptake of COVID vaccines in Zambia was low due to myths and misconceptions about the vaccines, fueled by social media, creating an even bigger challenge for the MOH teams to achieve their target!

The USAID TBLON project set out to support the Southern Province and Northwestern Province MOH teams to achieve their respective targets. The two provinces received approximately 26,700 doses. The Project’s support was directed to the districts that had utilized less than 20% of the allocated Pfizer vaccines. These included Chavuma, Mufumbwe, and Kabompo in Northwestern province and Livingstone, Kalomo, Monze, and Mazabuka districts in Southern province.

Key strategies used by the project included: setting up outreach vaccination sites in each of the supported districts, redistribution of COVID vaccines from areas that demonstrated reduced uptake to districts with much higher uptake, and demand creation activities. The project leveraged the power of working with community health workers in creating demand for vaccinations. The community workers provided their neighboring communities with information on the benefits of receiving the COVID vaccines and information on the nearest outreach sites where the community members could access COVID vaccines.

The USAID TBLON special initiatives officer, Dr. David Singini, was at the helm of coordinating the project support in this race. “I feared that thousands of life-saving vaccines could go to waste if we didn’t collectively act and act fast!” he recalled. Provincial MOH staff and TBLON staff moved through nearly impassable roads to get vaccines to remote areas of the province, often returning to their residences very latein the evenings from morning, after spending a full day in the communities. The efforts were a resounding success with both provinces administered 100% of the allocated Pfizer doses before expiry. Additionally, this experience taught the team about new strategies to enhance vaccine uptake in communities that future teams can use to strengthen vaccine delivery.

“We, the Livingstone Health Office, were glad to have received support from USAID TBLON towards community sensitization and mobilization. Community sensitization and mobilization are key for accepting COVID vaccination. Additionally, we appreciate their support towards the vaccinators on the ground.” Said the Livingstone District Health Director.