1. In Myanmar, the COVID-19 vaccination programme is being implemented with the objectives of reducing the morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19, preventing the further spread of disease, and reducing the country’s economic impact due to the pandemic.
2. In order to obtain COVID-19 vaccines, Myanmar has coordinated with the GAVI COVAX Facility and bilaterally coordinated with the friendly countries which are producing COVID-19 vaccines. Myanmar contracted to buy 30 million doses of vaccines from India at the end of 2020. Although the GAVI COVAX Facility has delivered the COVID-19 vaccine supplies to other member states up to Round-4, there were several postponements regarding the vaccine delivery to Myanmar and any vaccine has not been yet delivered to Myanmar. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, India has temporarily suspended the export of vaccines so that only 3.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses (1.5 million doses by donation and 2 million by purchase) arrived in Myanmar.
3. As the State Administration Council guided and encouraged to get more COVID-19 vaccines and consequently to scale up the vaccination programme as per one of the prioritized tasks, 23 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from government procurement and donation by friendly countries have been arrived in Myanmar as of 2 October 2021. Furthermore, Myanmar will receive additional 14 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines following donation and procurement from the People’s Republic of China before the end of 2021. Myanmar is also working with friendly countries in order to produce COVID-19 vaccines locally. To promote private sector participation, the Ministry of Health has allowed private sector to import COVID-19 vaccines according to rules and regulations and has urged them to take part in the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
4. With the vaccines from the government procurement, donations and private sector importations, Myanmar has been implementing the COVID-19 vaccination programme according to Myanmar National COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan which was developed in line with the World Health Organization guidance. A total of 24 target groups has been designated and prioritized for the COVID-19 vaccination programme, including different age groups of people, health staff, inmates from jails and custody, persons with disabilities, members and families of ethnic armed organizations, people in IDP camps and students (12-18 years old). All the vaccination activities are recorded and reported in the Vaccine Management Information System-VMIS. Therefore, the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Myanmar is in a neutral manner without any discrimination, leaving no one behind irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, gender, socio-economic status or political affiliation. The certificates bearing QR codes has been issuing after the completion of vaccinations.
5. A total of 8.68 million people were vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines from 27 January 2021 to 4 October 2021. A total of 3.92 million people has received the full doses of two jabs and thus 10.63 per cent of the total population above 18 years old has been fully vaccinated. In addition, 4.76 million people have been vaccinated for their first dose. Therefore, a total of 12.6 million doses has been delivered accounting for 17.08 per cent of the total targeted doses. The COVID-19 vaccination programme will continue in line with the World Health Organization coverage standards for the vaccine respective to targeted groups.
6. Up to 30 September 2021, there were 16 terrorist attacks by unlawful organizations and terrorist groups at COVID-19 prevention and control sites, including COVID-19 vaccination posts, leading to deaths and injuries of the working people and people who came for vaccination.
7. Despite the mentioned terrorist attacks and other challenges, the Ministry of Health has accelerated efforts on prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, enhancing COVID-19 testing, collaborating closely with related Ministries, volunteers, donors and community-based organizations under the guidance of the State Administrative Council as well as close and continuous supervision by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Containment and Emergency Response Committee. During the third wave of COVD-19, as in countries around the world, the number of COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 positivity rate had surged due to Delta variants. However, due to strong cooperation by the community, the number of cases and deaths has decreased significantly. Consequently, Myanmar has been ranked at No. 6 in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and No. 5 in the number of deaths due to COVID-19 among the ASEAN Countries.
8. On 28 July 2021, the GAVI contacted the Ministry of Health to support Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines and UNICEF also discussed supporting cold chain readiness, ultra-cold chain refrigerators and supplying 0.5 ml AD Syringes for the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Myanmar. A series of meetings between the Ministry of Health, the GAVI, WHO and UNICEF were conducted on 3, 12, 16, and 23 August 2021 in order to discuss the GAVI COVAX Facility support on 4,048,200 doses of Pfizer vaccine as round-5 allocation and 2,242,800 doses of Sinovac vaccines as round-6 allocation to Myanmar.
9. When the COVID-19 vaccines from the GAVI COVAX Facility arrive in Myanmar, these vaccines will be delivered to Myanmar people under the current National Vaccine Deployment Plan. All the vaccination information will be registered in a Vaccine Management Information System-VMIS (vmis@mohs.gov.mm) under the supervision of Coronavirus Disease 2019(COVID-19) Containment and Emergency Response Committee and leadership from the Ministry of Health and related ministries.
The Ministry of Health
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