COVID-19 VACCINATION IN HUMANITARIAN SETTINGS
Mapping the health services and supplies for COVID-19 response in Iraq
21 April 2022 – In February 2020, Iraq faced the COVID -19 pandemic, which posed a challenge to an already strained health system. To facilitate the response of humanitarian partners, the Iraq Health Cluster established the COVID -19 Task Force in April 2020, which developed the "Health Services and Supplies - COVID 19 Mapping" , an informational tool for various areas such as service delivery, facilities and resources, emergency hospital set-up, procurement and distribution of medicines, supplies, and personal protective equipment (PPE), etc., easily accessible through a consolidated platform to support communication and coordination among stakeholders.
RESOURCES
Interim statement on COVID-19 vaccines in the context of the circulation of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant from the WHO Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC)
8 March 2022 – The World Health Organization, with the support of the Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC), continues to review and assess the public health implications of emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern (VOC) on the performance of COVID-19 vaccines. Since the publication of the interim statement on COVID-19 vaccines on 11 January 2022, Omicron has become the dominant VOC globally, rapidly replacing other circulating variants. This statement highlights the global epidemiological situation, challenges of updating vaccine composition and provides the current position of the TAG-CO-VAC.
Statement on the eleventh meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
13 April 2022 – The eleventh meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic took place on Monday 11 April 2022 from 12:00 to 16:30 Geneva time (CEST).
Survey to understand technical support required for COVID-19 response in humanitarian settings - Results Report
Global Health Cluster, April 2022
Injection safety in the context of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination: Addendum to policy brief. WHO, April 2022.
Use of SARS-CoV-2 antigen-detection rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 self-testing – Interim guidance. WHO, March 2022
Summary: Consolidated financing framework for ACT-accelerator agency and in-country needs. WHO, February 2022
Mental Health and COVID-19: Early evidence of the pandemic’s impact: Scientific brief. WHO, March 2022
Contact tracing and quarantine in the context of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant: interim guidance. WHO, February 2022
EPI-WIN: WHO Information Network for Epidemics updates
EPI-WIN seeks to give everyone access to timely, accurate, and easy-to-understand advice and information from trusted sources on public health events and outbreaks: currently the COVID-19 public health emergency.
SAGE – Product specific documentation
See here for the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization recommendations for use of different vaccines.
COVID-19 VACCINE INTRODUCTION TOOLKIT
Provides guidance and tools for partners to prepare for and implement COVID-19 vaccination. Recent useful guidance includes:
COVID-19 vaccination: supply and logistics guidance. – WHO, February 2022.
EVENTS
Webinar COVID-19 response in humanitarian settings - When there are no right answers
13 April 2022 – The Global Health Cluster and the READY Initiative co-hosted a one hour webinar on Ethics – Key questions to ask when facing dilemmas during COVID-19 response in humanitarian settings. This session provided insights on key ethical concepts, some simple steps and key questions to ask when facing ethical dilemmas and must make difficult decisions based on competing needs and scarce resources. The tool helps link the role of frontline health care workers, health cluster partners and the health cluster as a whole to collaboratively face challenges. It also analyzed a case study from Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
Keep yourself up to date
WHO RCCE Collective Service, please sign-up for updates here
WHO COVID-19 vaccine newsletter, please sign-up for updates here
WHO COVID-19 digital content newsletter, please sign-up for updates here
WHO Infodemic Management newsletter, please sign-up for updates here
COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, please read here the Weekly Operational Update.
COVID-19 TASK TEAM
The GHC COVID-19 Task Team established a vaccine working group and is supporting two workstreams: first to monitor and track information on vaccination roll-out in humanitarian settings; and second to ensure shared learning and development of key messages.
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