The Ministry of Public Health (Minsanté) will organize a new intensive Covid-19 vaccination campaign from 16 to 20 March 2022. The campaign aims to increase vaccine coverage during this “period of relative calm to face the possible emergence of a new wave or variant,” said Minister Manaouda Malachie, in a statement on February 22. 

According to the government official, this fourth round of intensive vaccination campaign is organized in a ‘favorable context’ because of the results obtained with the response systems worldwide. Thanks to those response systems, some countries are now gradually lifting their barriers because of the significant decline in their positive cases and deaths, he informed.  

In Cameroon, the pandemic is ‘under control’ and no health district has crossed the resurgence threshold, even during the Africa Cup of Nations organized by the country between January 9 to February 6, 2022, health authorities claim.  

Also, this campaign is "an opportunity to further contain the circulation of the disease and favor return to normalcy" in Cameroon, according to the Minsanté. It aims to offer people aged 18 and over - primarily people aged 50 and over, health workers, and people with comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc.) - protection against Sars-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19. It is also an opportunity for the government to give the third dose to people who have already completed their vaccination schedule, to boost their immunity. 

All the two-dose Sinopharm and Pfizer vaccines and the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be available during the planned campaign.  The vaccines will be administered in health facilities, public or community places (markets, chiefdoms, churches, mosques, etc.), administrations, and businesses. Also, vaccinators will go door-to-door.   

Let’s note that vaccination is a response system implemented by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. It complements health protocols already in place but, it does not exempt residents from applying safety measures, authorities point out.

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