Reducing vaccine inequity in hard-to-reach zones
CoVACC has reimagined pediatric Immunization by making it more cost-effective and scalable. We’ve developed a community-based model that is:
Over 45 years ago, public health experts developed an effective model for childhood vaccination. The problem is – it’s far too expensive. The clinical complexities and high costs ($90+ per child) of routine immunization options mean that: As of 2024, about 1 in 5 children globally—or 20%—did not have access to lifesaving vaccines, meaning they were under-vaccinated or completely unvaccinated, according to CDC.
In Cameroon alone, over 600,000 children are considered “zero-dose,” meaning they have not received any doses of routine vaccines, and over 700,000 are under-immunized, according to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance –– Resulting in about 7,000 preventable deaths annually.
CoVACC has redesigned vaccination so that it can save more lives. Our model drops the average cost per child immunized from $90 to just $22 (a more than 68% reduction). We do it by working through community health workers (CHWs) – rather than doctors and nurses – and leveraging cutting-edge public health research. We equip our CHWs with training and tools to triage children, ensuring world-class quality of care. We estimate it costs between $2,200 – $7,300 to save a life with our model.
Advocacy with stakeholders, including district health officials, traditional leaders, religious figures, social group leaders, and caregivers.
The purpose is to coordinate efforts, raise awareness, and tailor solutions for each community to improve acceptability and ownership.
CoVACC works through community health workers (CHWs), rather than relying on nurses and doctors in hospitals.
We train community health workers (CHWs) and provide them with digital data collection and screening tools to ensure consistent quality of care, without having to rely on nurses and doctors.
Then, community health workers (CHWs) and community leaders mobilize to identify eligible cases. If they find unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children, they refer them to our vaccination sites selected by community stakeholders, and at specific days chosen by community members.
Community Health Workers, then administer missed vaccines, vitamin A, and medicines to help eligible children over the course of 1-12 weekly visits based on immunization status, and bi-annual visits based on vitamin A status.
Some children have complications such as adverse events following immunization (AEFI). We immediately refer these children to higher levels of care at existing government or private hospitals where nurses and doctors can stabilize them. When these children are stable enough they return home.
Ministry of Public Health (MoH), Cameroon
We innovate upon the Community-Directed Vaccination (CDV) model for mass immunization of eligible children. CDV is modelled from the successful demand-creation APOC’s CDTi model, recommended by WHO and can be highly cost-effective.
We’ve helped to vaccinate thousands of children in Northwest and Southwest Regions, Cameroon. We have identified more than 200 zero-dose children, close to 6000 under-vaccinated children, and 12 missed vaccine communities
Most of the children we screen have missed one or more vitamin A supplement doses before they reach the age of 5. Once we identify them, we administer the supplement every 6 months till age 5 years. We’ve helped administer more than 8000 doses of vit A
Bring our model to other organizations Our goal is to extend our impact beyond our current program by integrating our…
Expand our program to treat more children In the next three years, we plan to scale our program across the…
Sign up to receive updates on our expansion, stories from the field, and the latest findings from our research
Every $22 in our program fully vaccinates a child and provides vitamin A supplements – aiding to avert vaccine-preventable diseases and death.
Our intervention is one of the most cost-effective ways to save a life. Interested in scaling our work?
We put diverse talents to work to save lives. Tell us more about your skills so that we can put you to work.