The permanent secretary of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), Dr Shalom Tchokfe Ndoula, reports that the integration of Covid-19 vaccination into routine immunisation targeting people at risk is planned for 2023.

According to data from the Pev, more than 2 million Cameroonians were vaccinated during the last round of the campaign organised last November, a record for the country since the launch of vaccination on 12 April 2021. “Thanks to the campaign, we have moved away from the countries that had vaccine coverage of less than 10%. This is already a good step forward,” says Dr Tchokfe Ndoula. But the important thing, he says, is to vaccinate at-risk groups.

“Thanks to the campaign, we have already covered more than 80% of health workers. What remains are the elderly and people living with co-morbidities,” he says. On 14 December, the World Health Organisation (WHO) congratulated Cameroon on the “success” of this campaign, welcoming the “priority” given to at-risk and vulnerable groups.

But if the vaccination coverage is on the rise, it remains low. This is why health authorities are multiplying campaigns to vaccinate as many people as possible. On 30 December, the Minister of Public Health, Manaouda Malachie, prescribed the “reinforcement” of vaccination against Covid-19 in hospitals and vaccination centres to avoid the end-of-year celebrations being risk factors for a resurgence of cases, particularly through the importation of new variants of the disease.