Along the peaceful Nam Ou River at the northeast of Luang Prabang Province lies Ngoi District, a tranquil and beautiful village nestled among the magnificent mountains. In October this year, this mystical place became the setting of a cluster with more than 100 COVID-19 cases.
A central team from
Ngoi District's accessibility posed a major challenger to the response as it can be reached mainly by boats. Once they arrived in the district, one of the teams was assigned to manage the fixed vaccination site at Nong Khieaw village while the other five teams were assigned to do house-to-house vaccination to reach the elderly, people with disabilities, those with underlying health conditions and pregnant women.
The emergency team travelled by longboats to reach villages along the Nam Ou river
Vaccine boxes and necessities are loaded on the back of a farming tractor to reach the remote villages
Most of the villages have limited road access and this posed a huge challenge for the vaccination support, as boats and farmer tractors were needed for travel to reach the affected villages. As we are in the midst of the farming season, many villagers prefer to stay on their farms.
Vaccination activities in Ngoi District
Ngoi District has one district health office and 8 health centres which provide health services to more than 32,000 people in 75 villages. A training workshop was conducted for the health staff and medical students to prepare them for the vaccination activities.
For these outreach vaccination activities, Johnson & Johnson/Janssen (J&J) vaccines, supported by the Government of the United States through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the COVAX Facility, were added to the existing stockpile at the district health office.
These vaccines can be stored at regular refrigeration temperatures and are ideal for immunizing populations in hard-to-reach areas since one dose is needed to offer protection to these communities.
A vaccination site was set up amidst the mountains of Ngoi District
Local healthcare staff like Ms. Chansamay, a nurse from Sop Khing Health Center, was lauded as one of the unsung heroes from this vaccination campaign. Ms. Chansamay always carries a vaccine box with her and she has worked tirelessly to protect the villagers in her community.
Ms. Chansamay carries her vaccine box to reach the villages
“If the elderlies can’t come to us, we go to them,” said Ms. Chansamay.
Ms. Chansamay at one of the mobile outreach stations
An elderly lady receives her vaccine at home from the door-to-door vaccine outreach team
Pregnant women were encouraged to get their vaccination to protect them from COVID-19
Mr. Khamla (left), a resident with disability at Ban Nong Khiew, receives his vaccine with the help from Dr Souliya Channavong, WHO Technical Officer (right)
With funding support from USAID on the readiness, delivery, and monitoring of COVID-19 vaccines to Lao PDR, the team spent 12 days in Ngoi District and administered over 6,500 doses of vaccines to the villagers. The support contributed to safe vaccine distribution and waste disposal practices, improving monitoring and evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out
USAID also supports the Ministry of Health in strengthening the regulations and policies for vaccine administration and safety.
Vaccines alone will not end the pandemic. Other public health and personal protective measures including mask-wearing, physical distancing, good ventilation, and cough and hand hygiene must continue.