…while vaccinating during the COVID-19 pandemic

HEALTH authorities should take specific steps to protect healthcare workers and communities during essential immunisation activities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, say experts at the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO).

This recommendation comes following a call for countries to continue essential immunisation activities wherever possible during the COVID-19 pandemic, to prevent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. “Countries must do everything possible to ensure they are not facing multiple epidemics at once,” said Cuauhtemoc Ruis Matus, Head of the Comprehensive Family Immunisation Program at PAHO. In order to protect communities and healthcare workers during these vaccination programs, PAHO is calling on countries to ensure that all healthcare workers are vaccinated against seasonal influenza, as well as any other routine immunisations they might be missing. “Making sure healthcare workers are vaccinated not only helps keep them healthy, it also helps stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases in the communities they serve,” said Andres de Francisco, Director of the Family, Health Promotion and Life Course Department at PAHO.

MEASURES TO TAKE DURING VACCINATION
In addition to making sure healthcare workers are vaccinated against influenza and other vaccine-preventable diseases, PAHO is also recommending that healthcare services that offer vaccination services implement the following recommendations:
* Offering vaccination services outside or in a well-ventilated areas.
* Keeping vaccination services separate from other health services, to help keep people who are ill and those who do not have symptoms apart.
* Frequently disinfecting the vaccination area.
* Limiting the number of people who accompany the patient to be vaccinated to one person.
* Ensuring hand sanitiser or hand washing units with chlorinated water are available for the public at the entrance to the facility.
* Establishing exclusive vaccination sessions for at-risk groups, such as older people, pregnant women, and those with pre-existing medical conditions.
* Scheduling immunisation appointments or offering small but frequent immunisation sessions to limit crowded waiting rooms.
* PAHO also recommends that healthcare workers take steps to protect themselves and their patients while vaccinating. These include:

* Practicing good hand hygiene
* Complying with uniform guidelines
* Clean your phone properly and don´t use it around patients
* Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
* If you have COVID-19 symptoms, isolate yourself and contact your healthcare provider. Do not go to work

Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA) is celebrated this year from 25 April to 2 May 2020. It has been promoted by PAHO since 2003 with the goal of raising awareness of the benefits of vaccines to protect people. More than 806 million people around the Americas have been vaccinated as part of VWA, with many countries focusing on vaccination events in remote areas or among populations with limited access to health services.