Starting from January 2021, the Republic of Congo planned two vaccination campaigns. One, against poliomyelitis (through the introduction of the new oral polio vaccine type 2 “nVPO2”) and the other – COVID-19 (using the SARS-cov-2 vaccines manufactured by Sinopharm and Sputnik V manufactured by Gamaleïa).
These vaccines having received an authorization, the Ministry of Health deployed them for emergency use in the country, on the condition, among other things, the rigorous implementation of coordinated activities in order to monitor their safety during these campaigns.
Due to this, the Republic of Congo has reinforced its surveillance system for any after-effect during post-vaccination, by keeping the actors of the various links in this chain, on the alert. It has also set up (to complement the existing system) a Causality Analysis Committee (CAC) responsible for assessing the causal link for a given case of MAPI (MAnifestation Post-vaccinale Indésirable) relating to the vaccines above.
Among the actors responsible for monitoring the safety of vaccines in the country, are the focal points of departments and districts, with the responsibility to compile and provide first quality assurance of MAPI notifications (in the 10 departments and 52 health districts of the country) and the CAC’s ultimate responsibility for evaluating the causal link for MAPI-Vaccine.
To support these actors with the MAPI surveillance system and to carry out their missions, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with WHO and the AFRICLINIQUE Network, organized a series of capacity-building workshops for these different actors.
For more information, click on: News Release in English
