PAHO Provides Global Training for the COVID-19 Vaccine

L-R: Elneth Connor, Janice Hodge, Zamender Smith-Lake,
Fay Thomas-Astaphan and Nisha Dupuis

On Wednesday, December 16th, by means of Zoom conferencing, Health Ministries and medical officials around the globe, including Anguilla, were connected with the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to obtain information in preparation for the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The conference was held in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and dealt with specific mandates required for the administering of the new vaccine. Areas covered were: the status of current vaccines and their development; implementing the roadmap for a framework of values in planning and monitoring the administering of the vaccine; vaccine safety; and the actual planning for the COVID-19 vaccine introduction. Also discussed was the progress made so far in accessing the COVID-19 vaccine for Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Since the vaccine must be constantly stored in a cold environment, a PAHO Regional Workshop was held via Zoom again on Thursday, December 17th, with emphasis on training health workers in the storage, distribution and transport capacities of the vaccine. This training dealt in particular with cold chain equipment that will be essential for the preservation of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Ministry of Health’s Communications Specialist, Ms. Nisha Dupuis, gave The Anguillian information on the two-day training sessions. She stated: “This session of training is geared towards equipping the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) in Anguilla. They are being trained by PAHO’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) in preparation for the introduction of the COVIID-19 vaccine here.”

With regard to the training sessions themselves, she said: “These sessions are quite informative. It is indeed necessary that we begin to have conversations, pertaining to the vaccine, as provided by PAHO’s case studies. Such case studies show how the vaccine will be distributed in other countries, so we can glean from those studies to analyze what will take place in relation to the vaccine deployment in our society, and how the distribution will benefit our population here. Therefore, the National Immunization Group is being equipped with knowledge over these two days.”
Ms. Dupuis continued: “We are quite keen in terms of the storage of the vaccine. We know that Pfizer has very stringent storage and transportation requirements. The vials of vaccine must be constantly kept at -70 degrees celcius. Therefore, we are taking into consideration the safe cold chain processes. This cold chain relates to the manufacturing, storage, transportation and distribution of the vaccine which must always be kept at an optimally safe temperature.”
When asked whether there is a plan to educate the public on the implications of the COVID-19 vaccine, Ms. Dupuis said: “I am working on a communications plan which entails informing and educating the general public. It would be our aim to get our people aware of inoculation against COVID-19, and that would be in our best interest. We have actually had quite a number of successful vaccinations against other diseases in the past. So we intend to educate the public about the benefits of this COVID-19 vaccination.”

“We are expecting to vaccinate some 70% of the Anguilla Population, in the first instance. What we are seeing from our advisors is that vaccinating 70% will help to prevent community spread of COVID-19, so that would be enough to protect the entire population. As long as we prioritise the necessary groups that need protecting, we can trickle down to the remaining 30%.”
Ms. Dupuis stated that the main focus right now is to have health care workers become familiar with the administration of the vaccine. “If they are well informed about the vaccine, and once they are confident and sure, it would trickle down to the rest of society,” she said. Speaking with confidence, she ascertained: “We trust our World Health-Care Workers, and we know that they are operating within our best interest, so these PAHO training sessions are only meant to heighten our education from a health- care perspective.”