Covid vaccine brigade reaches into far off areas

With a rise in the rate of vaccination hesitancy fuelled by reports of vaccine-related deaths, the government, public health specialists and funders are leaving no stones unturned to maximise vaccine access among communities at risk.

The national department of health has joined forces with international innovative health specialists BroadReach Health Development and US Aid for International Development to fasttrack vaccinations and tackle vaccination hesitancy in rural areas in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

These two provinces have the highest vaccine hesitancy and some of the lowest Covid vaccination rates. KZN has recorded 42% and Mpumalanga is at 41%. The BroadReach-led programme dispatched a Covid brigade comprising more than 350 community workers who spoke the local language, supported by healthcare staff into the heart of rural communities.

The intervention targeted four districts – two each in the two provinces because of their extremely low vaccination rates of under 25% and as low as 12%.

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These were Ugu and King Cetshwayo (23% vaccination rate) in KZN, and Gert Sibande (24%) and Nkangala (21%) in Mpumalanga. Certain municipalities within these districts are at greater risk with Thembisile Hani (in Nkangala) reaching just 19% vaccination coverage and Mfolozi (in King Cetshwayo) at 12% vaccination rate among adults.

The same areas were identified as having high rates of HIV, TB and a variety of complicating comorbidities. Last week the outreach team reported they had vaccinated 5 000 hard-to-reach people in these rural districts over the last three weeks.

With the fifth wave still looming, there were fears Covid infections could worsen among the communities at risk.

BroadReach Health Development’s Dhirisha Naidoo said: “The Covid brigade is made up of integrated specialist teams who assist with vaccine hesitancy and uptake. Community organisers share information, data capturers collect patient information, nurses and doctors assist patients.

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“They will help with practical interventions so people do not have to travel, pay for transport or spend a lot of time getting vaccinated. Community educators will help people register, discuss vaccinations in their mother tongue and dispel key misinformation that may be scaring people away,” Naidoo said.

Their strategy was informed by the latest research which found the main barriers to vaccination in rural areas were not knowing where to go (24%), vaccine sites being difficult to get to (18%) and the high cost of getting there (17%).