The pandemic has greatly impacted the world. And Ethiopia is among the places that were stricken by the Covid-19 virus. There were many measures that were imposed by the government and followed by the citizens. The efforts of both the government and the people have been so remarkable; yet, there are still new cases that are being recorded each day. But if you compare it to the first few months of the disease spread, the numbers of the new cases are definitely lower than before.
Furthermore, Ethiopia is trying its best to provide its people the comfort and safety that they deserve. The Coronavirus disease isn’t the only problem that has tested the country and imposed great threat to its citizens. Among the other societal issues that the country faced was famine, which was featured in the memoir containing Dr. Conner’s mission for Ethiopia titled The Face of Hunger: Reflections on a Famine in Ethiopia. With all these societal problems that need solution, Covid-19 tends to top the priority levels of other issues because of how easy it spreads, how invisible it is to the naked eye, and how many lives were lost from it.
Just like other countries, Ethiopia has already introduced mass vaccination to its citizens. According to WHO Africa, the Covid-19 vaccine presentation was inaugurated by The Ministry of Health of Ethiopia at Eka Kotebe Covid-19 Hospital. The first ones who received their doses were the medical frontline workers, who symbolize the start of the campaign to vaccinate the people of Ethiopia. The vaccines that were injected to these remarkable medical staff are the ones developed by Serum Institute of India (SII) called AstraZeneca. A month ago, the first batch of the vaccines arrived in the country via COVAX.
There are also at least 5.4 million doses of vaccines that were procured by the government as part of the present-day worldwide distribution plan following the first few doses injected to the frontline medical workers. The estimated time of arrival of these millions of dosages are on May 2021. Dr. Dereje Duguma, the State Minister of the Federal Ministry of Health in Ethiopia recognized the help of COVAX facility and other partners that handed out their support in making the launch of Covid-19 vaccines in the country possible and efficient — as well as bringing the whole globe a step closer to fight off the pandemic.
According to Reuters, the nation has successfully acquired a total of 9 million Covid-19 vaccines until April. They plan to vaccinate no less than 1/5th of the 110 million citizens of the country by the end of 2021. Ethiopia’s Minister of Health, Lia Tadesse said that it will cost the country at least $328 million to acquire the vaccine dosages and other miscellaneous expenses for the said procurement. However, the expenses will be shouldered by the government, along with the donations that the country got from other countries.
But, one of the challenges in administering mass vaccination in Ethiopia is communication. Educating the public about the nature, benefits, side effects, and importance of getting vaccinated might be a struggle for most places in country due to the location and resources. Based on the article Spreading the word about vaccines in Ethiopia by Rachael Hore in Gavi The Vaccine Alliance, one of the factors why there is an imbalance in the vaccine coverage rate in the country is not because there was a shortage in supply but because of the complex geography and conventional nomadic way of living along with the insufficient vaccine details that leads to a reduced demand for vaccination.
The need to educate and communicate to the local and remote communities in Ethiopia is among the primary methods to raise immunization demand and improve vaccination awareness in every individual in the country. In order to cater to the lack of details and insufficient knowledge on Covid-19 vaccination and its impact on people’s lives, the government should definitely center on hitting 5 main points to encourage citizens to get inoculated, which are the cultural beliefs, scarcity of data, fears of hazards, location accessibility, and trust in medical staff.
During these rough times, Ethiopia is doing its best to protect its people by securing vaccines for immunization. As they embark on this new stage of fighting Covid-19, may they succeed and prosper.
The Damsel’s Files 