Health Officer for COVID 19 Vaccination

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

COVID-19 vaccination could mitigate the further spread of the pandemic and ensure the resumption of routine service delivery. However, The Gambia is lagging in vaccinating against COVID-19. Despite the calls for reaching the targets of 10% and 40% by September and December 2021, respectively, full vaccine uptake remains low at 20% of target population as of 24 January 2022. Initially, there was a good progress when vaccination started in The Gambia in March 2021, but it levelled off and slowed down during the first half of the year. The country launched mobile outreach vaccination campaigns in July-August which also showed good results as the number of vaccinated increased. However, the numbers started dwindling soon and once again by mid-September the number of people getting vaccinated dropped to less than a hundred per day which is much below the required rate to reach the national targets. It was clear that vaccine uptake improved considerably through mobile outreach campaigns as between December 2021 and January 2022, based on two house-to-house outreach campaigns, an additional 9 percent of the target population could be reached in contrast to 11% reached through the fixed site strategy which has been used since the beginning of the vaccination process in March 2021. The vaccination campaign is also facing some structural challenges including vaccine hesitancy, weak planning and coordination and also fatigue and competing priorities including nOPV2 campaign which divert both attention and already limited resources away from COVAX. Without the rapid scale-up of vaccination, the population will remain at risk of continuing transmission of the virus and the emergence of new variants that may be more transmissible (e.g. Omicron), can effect larger populations and possibly lead to further mutations with newer strains which could evade the immune protection provided by the currently available vaccines.
UNICEF is the lead agency for the UN on risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) in the COVID19 response and co-chairs, with WFP, on Social Services Pillar covering social protection, WASH, education, protection, and education, and is an active member of all other coordination mechanisms and their sub-committees. UNICEF’s involvement and leadership in the RCCE and Social Services pillars at the national and decentralized level is important to ensure that trust is built with communities by mobilizing and empowering them to be partners in the response to COVID19 while contributing to system strengthening for sustainability and building-back better. This process will include addressing the main barrier of human resource capacity and limited technical expertise available within the programme.

Considering the above, there is an urgent need for the function of Health Officer for COVID 19 Vaccination to support national efforts as part of UNICEF Gambia COVID-19 response team to work closely, support key stakeholders including the Government, UN Agencies, and other partners ensuring quick uptake of vaccines.

The overall objective of the Health Officer is to assist UNICEF Gambia’s Immunisation Officer to provide technical support to the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) for the implementation of COVID 19 vaccination country wide.

Under the direct supervision of the Immunisation Officer, the UNV will undertake the following tasks

• Support Immunisation Officer and partners in the process to obtain regulatory documents including importation and customs clearance procedures and identify expected challenges or exemptions that may be required regarding importation and use of COVID-19 vaccines in the country. • Participate and support in the planning exercises to identify target groups to be vaccinated in consultation with EPI. • Support national counterparts to identify gaps, challenges and solutions to complete vaccine deployment before the established vaccination start dates. •Support the EPI team in estimating cold chain and dry store capacity requirements, issues, challenges and solutions. •Support in vaccine deployment based on population target, distances •Support logistics planning with the EPI team on the quantity, doses and ancillary items to be distributed to regions. • Support the EPI team to assess current waste management capacity and practices, and their adequacy; changes needed to accommodate additional volume of wastage due to new vaccine; and plans for upgrading the waste management system if and when needed. • Support supervisor in coordination with EPI section in training of staff on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) •Support capacity development on Medical Waste management during vaccination campaign

☐ Accountability ☒ Adaptability and Flexibility ☒ Commitment and Motivation ☒ Commitment to Continuous Learning ☒ Communication ☒ Creativity ☒ Ethics and Values ☒ Integrity ☒ Planning and Organizing ☒ Professionalism ☒ Respect for Diversity ☒ Self-Management ☒ Working in Teams

field of immunization Experience in Cold Chain and Vaccines Supplies and Supply Management Systems

The UN Volunteer will be based in Banjul, the capital. The Gambia is situated at the tip of the West African coast and has a total surface area of approximately 10,360 square kilo-metres. Apart from the 48 km stretch at the Atlantic Ocean, The Gambia is landlocked by Senegal. The climate consists of a tropical hot rainy season from July to September and a cooler dry season from October to June. The Gambia has a total population of 1.9 million, of which more than 50% are children under the age of 18 years.

English is the official language. Mandinka and Wolof are the main local languages most widely used in the country. The Gambia is relatively peaceful, and the people are warm and friendly. Basic security prevention precautions should nevertheless be taken to avoid any unpleasant surprises. The entire country is in security level 2 – Low.

The national currency in The Gambia is the Dalasi. Foreign currency can be exchanged at the official rate at selected branches of commercial banks. Only few major hotels accept credit cards as means of payment.

Taxis are available at all places in the city. The most common form of travel is shared taxis yellow taxis) and private or tourist cabs (green taxis). The condition of roads in the city is poor. Driving standards are low with poor traffic discipline.

Upon arrival, a visa is given for those visitors coming from a country where there is no Gambian embassy available or an entry clearance has been secured from the Depart-ment of Immigration on behalf of the visitor prior to their arrival. Visas are also given to tourists (chartered flight) upon arrival for a maximum period of 30 days. All other visas need to be processed and obtained prior to travel.