1. In Myanmar, the COVID-19 vaccination programme is being implemented with the objectives of reducing the morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19, preventing the further spread of disease, and reducing the country’s economic impact due to the pandemic.
2. In order to obtain COVID-19 vaccines,
Myanmar has coordinated with the GAVI COVAX Facility and bilaterally
coordinated with the friendly countries which are producing COVID-19 vaccines.
Myanmar contracted to buy 30 million doses of vaccines from India at the end of
2020. Although the GAVI COVAX Facility has delivered the COVID-19 vaccine
supplies to other member states up to Round-4, there were several postponements
regarding the vaccine delivery to Myanmar and any vaccine has not been yet
delivered to Myanmar. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, India has
temporarily suspended the export of vaccines so that only 3.5 million COVID-19
vaccine doses (1.5 million doses by donation and 2 million by purchase) arrived
in Myanmar.
3. As the State Administration
Council guided and encouraged to get more COVID-19 vaccines and consequently to
scale up the vaccination programme as per one of the prioritized tasks, 23
million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from government procurement and donation by
friendly countries have been arrived in Myanmar as of 2 October 2021.
Furthermore, Myanmar will receive additional 14 million doses of COVID-19
vaccines following donation and procurement from the People’s Republic of China
before the end of 2021. Myanmar is also working with friendly countries in
order to produce COVID-19 vaccines locally. To promote private sector
participation, the Ministry of Health has allowed private sector to import
COVID-19 vaccines according to rules and regulations and has urged them to take
part in the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
4. With the vaccines from the
government procurement, donations and private sector importations, Myanmar has
been implementing the COVID-19 vaccination programme according to Myanmar
National COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan which was developed in line with the
World Health Organization guidance. A total of 24 target groups has been
designated and prioritized for the COVID-19 vaccination programme, including
different age groups of people, health staff, inmates from jails and custody,
persons with disabilities, members and families of ethnic armed organizations,
people in IDP camps and students (12-18 years old). All the vaccination
activities are recorded and reported in the Vaccine Management Information
System-VMIS. Therefore, the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Myanmar is in a
neutral manner without any discrimination, leaving no one behind irrespective
of their ethnicity, religion, gender, socio-economic status or political
affiliation. The certificates bearing QR codes has been issuing after the
completion of vaccinations.
5. A total of 8.68 million people
were vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines from 27 January 2021 to 4 October 2021.
A total of 3.92 million people has received the full doses of two jabs and thus
10.63 per cent of the total population above 18 years old has been fully
vaccinated. In addition, 4.76 million people have been vaccinated for their
first dose. Therefore, a total of 12.6 million doses has been delivered
accounting for 17.08 per cent of the total targeted doses. The COVID-19
vaccination programme will continue in line with the World Health Organization
coverage standards for the vaccine respective to targeted groups.
6. Up to 30 September 2021, there were 16
terrorist attacks by unlawful organizations and terrorist groups at COVID-19
prevention and control sites, including COVID-19 vaccination posts, leading to
deaths and injuries of the working people and people who came for vaccination.
7. Despite the mentioned terrorist
attacks and other challenges, the Ministry of Health has accelerated efforts on
prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, enhancing COVID-19 testing,
collaborating closely with related Ministries, volunteers, donors and
community-based organizations under the guidance of the State Administrative
Council as well as close and continuous supervision by the Coronavirus Disease
2019 (COVID-19) Containment and Emergency Response Committee. During the third
wave of COVD-19, as in countries around the world, the number of COVID-19 cases
and COVID-19 positivity rate had surged due to Delta variants. However, due to
strong cooperation by the community, the number of cases and deaths has
decreased significantly. Consequently, Myanmar has been ranked at No. 6 in the
number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and No. 5 in the number of deaths due to
COVID-19 among the ASEAN Countries.
8. On 28 July 2021, the GAVI
contacted the Ministry of Health to support Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines and UNICEF
also discussed supporting cold chain readiness, ultra-cold chain refrigerators
and supplying 0.5 ml AD Syringes for the COVID-19 vaccination programme in
Myanmar. A series of meetings between the Ministry of Health, the GAVI, WHO and
UNICEF were conducted on 3, 12, 16, and 23 August 2021 in order to discuss the
GAVI COVAX Facility support on 4,048,200 doses of Pfizer vaccine as round-5
allocation and 2,242,800 doses of Sinovac vaccines as round-6 allocation to
Myanmar.
9. When the COVID-19 vaccines from
the GAVI COVAX Facility arrive in Myanmar, these vaccines will be delivered to
Myanmar people under the current National Vaccine Deployment Plan. All the
vaccination information will be registered in a Vaccine Management Information
System-VMIS (vmis@mohs.gov.mm) under the supervision of Coronavirus Disease
2019(COVID-19) Containment and Emergency Response Committee and leadership from
the Ministry of Health and related ministries.
The Ministry of Health
#The Global New Light Of Myanmar
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