Public Health in Practice (Nov 2021)
The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic: Vaccination challenges in Sudan
Abstract
The first COVID-19 case in Sudan was announced on March 13th, 2020. 1835 deaths were recorded as of February 7th, 2021. 800,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were allocated to Sudan through COVAX in March 2021. However, multiple challenges exist in vaccinating the Sudanese population, ranging from an inadequate cold chain system to low acceptance rates of COVID-19 vaccination among the Sudanese population. Economic crises, high inflation rates and long-standing economic sanctions have also negatively impacted the healthcare system in Sudan as a result of deprivation of access to research and development funding.