{"id":44619,"date":"2021-10-15T13:03:13","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T13:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/how-did-rwanda-speed-ahead-in-the-covid-19-vaccine-race\/"},"modified":"2021-10-15T13:12:06","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T13:12:06","slug":"how-did-rwanda-speed-ahead-in-the-covid-19-vaccine-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/how-did-rwanda-speed-ahead-in-the-covid-19-vaccine-race\/","title":{"rendered":"How did Rwanda speed ahead in the COVID-19 vaccine race?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the first Covid-19 vaccines landed in the Rwandan capital Kigali on March 3rd, the country was ready.<\/p>\n

Within an hour, the vaccines reached the health ministry\u2019s central warehouse, where vehicles from the country\u2019s 47 district hospitals were waiting with fridges on board. In a deployment that had already been tested and tweaked, the trucks fanned out across Rwanda\u2019s green hills and valleys, and army helicopters lifted off to deliver the vaccines to the most remote pockets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all about preparation. Our experience of preparing for outbreaks of contagious diseases in the past has helped us develop detailed crisis plans, which we were able to put into effect as soon as Covid-19 was identified,\u201d says Dr Daniel Ngamije, Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlanning the logistical elements of our vaccine rollout, similarly, was set in motion shortly after a state of emergency was declared.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a continent where fewer than 5 per cent of people are fully vaccinated, Rwanda\u2019s vaccine rollout stands out as a success, not just in Africa but by any global comparison. In a Covid Performance Index compiled by the Lowy Institute, Rwanda ranked 7th in the world.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a competition, Dr Ngamije insists. \u201cWe are all part of the same fight to defeat this pandemic, and given the interconnectedness of our continent, we are not safe until everyone in Africa is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Rwanda\u2019s experience could provide lessons for other African nations, both in their response to Covid-19 and to future pandemics.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the important things is that our vaccine programme was not born in the time of Covid. From the central planning, the warehousing, logistics and transport to the communities – the whole supply chain – the foundations were already there,\u201d says Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, Director General of the Rwanda Biomedical Center, which coordinates the rollout.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just had to strengthen them because not only were Covid vaccines coming in big numbers, we also had other vaccination programmes for children that were continuing,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

As well as preparing regular refrigerators used for other vaccines, Rwanda also purchased ultra-low temperature freezers able to store the Pfizer vaccine at -70 degrees Celsius, becoming the first African country to use Pfizer\u2019s doses that require ultra-cold storage.<\/p>\n

Without the resources to front up funds to make large pre-orders, many African countries had to stand by last year as the world\u2019s richest countries reserved doses to vaccinate their populations against Covid-19 several times over.<\/p>\n

Rwanda, like most African nations, has received supplies from the vaccine-sharing facility COVAX. But when those supplies dried up in April \u2013 as vaccines were diverted to combat India\u2019s massive infection wave – Rwanda cut deals directly with manufacturers Pfizer and AstraZenca to secure 4 million doses, says Health Minister Dr Ngamije.<\/p>\n

Once on the tarmac, the shots reached people\u2019s arms within hours. After the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, the administration of President Paul Kagame prides itself on efficiency and technological expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a saying here that we don\u2019t store vaccines in fridges or warehouses, we store vaccines in people\u2019s arms,\u201d says Dr Nsanzimana.<\/p>\n

Known as The Land of a Thousand Hills for its lush, mountainous terrain, Rwanda deployed \u201chelicopters from day one and we had purchased vehicles for each of the district hospitals, so they could transport vaccines overland to the health centres,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

First in line were the elderly and most vulnerable, followed by jabs for those most exposed to infection \u2013 key workers, moto-taxi drivers and hospitality staff. Next came a mass campaign across the capital city.<\/p>\n

\u201cKigali has been the most significant hub for transmission,\u201d says Dr Ngamije. \u201cBy vaccinating over 90 per cent of adults in the city, we can reduce transmissions and protect the entire nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a continent where misinformation and hesitancy around the Covid-19 vaccine is rife, again Rwanda has trodden its own path.<\/p>\n

Building on trust built over years of routine vaccinations for children, Rwanda mobilised everyone from heads of households and village elders to district and provincial leaders to disseminate accurate information on the Covid jab, says Dr Ndoungou Salla Ba, the World Health Organisation\u2019s Representative in Rwanda.<\/p>\n

Radio and TV channels hosted interviews and answered questions about the vaccine in local languages and daily updates are posted on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur top leaders, the president himself, religious leaders, teachers, scientists and celebrities have also come forward to take the vaccine in public,\u201d says Dr Nsanzimana of the RBC. \u201cSo in Rwanda we have not had the issue of vaccine hesitancy. Actually, it\u2019s more about the pressure on us to bring in more vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rwanda\u2019s target now is to vaccinate at least a third of its population by the end of the year, rising to 60 per cent next year. And it is laying the foundations for a longer term solution by positioning itself as Africa\u2019s vaccine manufacturing centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that before long, and with support from the international community, we can become a hub for the home-grown vaccines that Africa needs in order to be self-sufficient in the fight against future pandemics and outbreaks of infectious diseases,\u201d says Dr Ngamije.<\/p>\n

The country is in talks to establish the first mRNA vaccine plant in Africa, with Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa on the shortlist for U.S. drugmaker Moderna\u2019s planned factory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Rwandan government commits, it makes it happen,\u201d concludes WHO\u2019s Dr Salla. And the government is really committed to ending this pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rwanda's<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{An outlier in Africa\u2019s slow rollout, Rwanda has raced ahead and vaccinated more than 90 per cent of adults in its capital. Minister of Health Dr Daniel Ngamije tells the Evening Standard\u2019s Vaccine for the World project how Rwanda did it.} <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[75],"byline":[3039],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-44619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-homenews","byline-the-evening-standard"],"bylines":[{"id":3039,"name":"The Evening Standard","slug":"the-evening-standard","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":3039,"name":"The Evening Standard","slug":"the-evening-standard","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44619"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=44619"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=44619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}