Partnering with the European Union to support deployment of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination
The European Union (EU) and WHO/Europe are continuing their partnership in providing critical assistance to ensure local readiness for safe and effective vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 in the 6 Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
The regional programme – worth over €40 million during a 3-year period starting February 2021 – is the largest EU and WHO joint action ever implemented in the European Region. It complements ongoing and forthcoming work through global and regional solidarity initiatives, such as the WHO co-led COVAX Facility and the EU vaccine sharing mechanism, to ensure access to vaccines in these countries.
The Action is divided into phases with an initial focus on country-wide logistical planning and coordination efforts, risk communication and community engagement activities, training of health-care workers involved in the vaccination campaigns, and support to vaccine supply chain management. This will be followed by support for effective vaccination data collection and vaccine roll-out safety monitoring. The Action will also serve as a major investment to strengthen routine immunization systems in the Eastern Partnership countries.
