Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z), under the COVID-19 Programme, with support from the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (SMFA) through TI-UK, has
undertaken an assessment on the state of vaccine distribution and deployment in six (6) target districts, namely; Chipata, Choma, Katete, Kazungula, Livingstone and
Petauke. This Third-Party Monitoring (TPM) is part of the Transparency, Accountability and Equity in the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution (TRAE-C19VD) project. In conducting this assessment, TI-Z collected quantitative data from district health offices (DHOs) and health facilities from each of the 6 named districts. The health facilities were purposively selected to include urban, peri-urban and rural facilities. Overall, a total of 24 health offices and facilities were targeted during the month of September 2022; including 6 district health offices (DHOs) and 18 health facilities. The quantitative data was then summarised into tables and figures while the qualitative data was used to enrich the analysis and to develop of appropriate recommendations
The assessment established that the total number of vaccines received by the sampled 6 districts was 589,885 with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine accounting for
54.98%. It was also established that Chipata district received the highest quantity vaccines at 211,592 and was followed by Choma district which received 114,530
vaccines. Choma district recorded the highest utilization rate at 94.77% and was followed by Petauke district at 80.01%. Among the sampled health facilities, Chibolya
Clinic had the least vaccine utilization rate and was followed by Kafunkha Health Post. It was also established that the Sinopharm vaccine was the least utilized while the
Johnson and Johnson vaccine was the most utilized. The assessment also found that Livingstone district (25.82%) had the least utilization rate among the 6 sampled
districts and that Choma district (94.77%) had the highest. Furthemore, the overall wastage across the districts was only 0.86% owing to the availability of adequate cold
storage facilities. However, there was is significant backlog on vaccination records due to inadequate vaccination cards across all the 6 districts and 18 health facilities.
In light of these findings TI-Z Recommens the following
Increased vaccine-specific mass sensitization in order to address vaccine
1. hesitancy in specific districts. This is the sure way to boost vaccine uptake and to demystify the myths associated with COVID-19 vaccines.
2. Steps to be taken to ensure the proper maintenance of cold storage facilities in order to continue safeguarding vaccines.
3. Standardization of record keeping at all health facilities through the maintenance of a uniform register.
4. Adequate provision of vaccines at the facility level and sufficient stock to satisfy preferences.
5. Provision of more vaccination cards and development of a systematic way of dealing with the backlogs at facility level.
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