Surmounting inherent challenges in healthcare service delivery for effective procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines; A developing country context

Abstract

• Despite the availability of vaccines against COVID-19, developing countries like Nigeria still face issues such as funding sources for purchasing the vaccines, vaccine availability, prioritizing which vaccines to procure, vaccine handling and storage, and corruption. • There is need to assess the possibility of deploying various strategies to enhance COVID-19 vaccine procurement, distribution, and use, such as exploring international vaccine procurement and financing mechanisms for effective pooling of management and technical capacity as well as funds. • Establishing regional clusters for infrastructure while creating and training a robust and knowledgeable network/workforce can increase the strength of in-country skilled workforce to aid distribution and administration. • Looking inwards for other context-specific solutions such as assessing the possibility of using community pharmacies as vaccination centers can also improve vaccine coverage and acceptance