The global COVID-19 vaccination campaign will be the largest in history. The delivery of COVID-19 vaccines presents challenges unprecedented in scale, speed and specificities, especially in low- and middleincome countries. In November 2020, anticipating the availability of safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19, the World Bank together with WHO, UNICEF, the Global Fund, and Gavi rolled out readiness assessments in more than 100 low and middle-income countries.
MAIN REPORT FINDINGS
As countries ramp up efforts to vaccinate their populations against the deadly COVID-19 disease, the world’s poorest countries show varying degrees of readiness for this massive undertaking.
The existence of well-functioning child immunization systems is not a strong predictor of country readiness to deliver COVID-19 vaccines.
Most countries are focusing on strengthening essential aspects of the vaccine delivery chain –enough to advance vaccination schedules and begin inoculating their populations.
Few countries are using the opportunity provided by the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines to strengthen health systems and find long-lasting solutions for similar future challenges
COVID-19 vaccination campaigns offer unique opportunities for countries to digitize their information systems for tracking vaccines and monitoring vaccinations
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is an opportunity to create environmentallyfriendly cold chain that could be of use well beyond the current crisis
More countries are using indicative topdown methodologies instead of the new assessment framework and associated tools to cost gaps in readiness
