MOGADISHU, July 16 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday Somalia has made remarkable progress in limiting the spread of COVID-19 and rolling out vaccination drives thanks to its initiative launched in 2023.
The Somalia COVID-19 Emergency Vaccination Project, which has been central to the COVID-19 vaccination efforts to date, is scheduled to continue until September 2025, according to the WHO.
"Not only is the target of fully vaccinating 70 percent of the Somali population within reach, but systems have been built to ensure that Somalia is better prepared to face the next health emergency," WHO Representative in Somalia Renee Van de Weerdt said in a statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
Since July 2023, the project has supported the efforts of the Somali Ministry of Health to expand the coverage of COVID-19 vaccines and strengthen essential immunization services across the country, it said.
A crucial part of this work is strengthening the organizational capacity of the National Medicine Regulatory Authority and Somalia's surveillance system for immunization, the WHO said, adding that the surveillance of adverse events following immunization has been integrated into the existing health information management system.
To date, the project has supported the administration of more than 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
"As a result, 49.7 percent of Somalia's population is fully vaccinated. This includes 60 percent of all internally displaced people in the country and 8 percent of the nomadic populations," the WHO said, noting that the project is expected to help the country achieve its target of fully vaccinating 70 percent of the population against COVID-19 by 2024.
Over the next 14 months until September 2025, the project will integrate COVID-19 vaccination within the Big Catch-up, a global WHO initiative aimed at reinstating and enhancing access to childhood immunization, which was disrupted worldwide during the pandemic.
