Summary    

Title: National COVID-19 vaccination, Technical Assistance Addis Ababa

Duty station: Sidama 

Duration: 24 months 

No. of consultant : One(1)

Reporting to   MOH EPI team lead in collaboration with UNICEF ECO Immunization Specialist

1. Background and Justification

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).  COVID-19 was initially reported from Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and currently the disease is a global pandemic affecting all countries, including our country, Ethiopia. The global COVID-19 pandemic has been exerting high negative impacts on the health, social and economic wellbeing of people in our country. 

The MoH, in collaboration with partners, has been working on the prevention and response of COVID-19 pandemic to hal its spread and reduce the negative impact of the pandemic. So far Ethiopia received more than 12million doses through COVAX dose sharing, bilateral donations from countries and self-financing through AVAT. The COVID-19 vaccine deployment has been undertaken in a phased approach based on population risk levels, global availability of COVID-19 vaccines, and operational feasibility.

1. Specific Tasks

• Provide technical support to the functions the ICC (Interagency Coordination Committee) and the NITAG (National Immunization Technical Advisory Group) as setting agendas, meeting procedures and ensure that decisions and action points are being followed-up and implemented.
• Provide technical support to the National Technical Working Group (NTWGs) for COVID-19 vaccine national Rollout and participate in the meeting regularly.
• Support regions to establish and/or revitalize their COVID-19 task force and TWGs to support the service delivery, vaccine cold chain & logistics, demand generation and communication, targeting (Microplanning), COVID-19 surveillance, monitoring and evaluation of the coverage among at-risk groups and monitoring of vaccine impacts, safety of vaccine AEFI (Adverse Events following Immunization) detection and response.
• Support in the revision of National Deployment and vaccination Plan (NDVP) with input from relevant bodies (COVAX, ICC, NITAG and the TWGs. Liaise with the national immunization program, national Regulatory Authority, AEFI Committee to enrich the plan
• Support EFDA to confirm to the Ministry the existence of any expedited regulatory pathway for approval of COVID-19 vaccines (i.e emergency use authorization, exceptional approval for the upcoming other COVID-19 vaccines)
• Provide technical assistance at all levels to estimate potential numbers of target population that will be prioritized for access to vaccines stratified by target group ad geographic location.
• Support in the development of Macro and microplanning exercise for COVID 19 vaccination deployment 
• Provide technical support on evidence generation and quality data for action
• Regularly monitor country’s readiness by completing RAT/VIRAT
• Provide technical assistance in the development and revision of training materials by adapting and translating training materials developed by WHO.
• Develop training plan that include key groups of participants, content topic areas, key training partners and training methods and conduct training vaccinators, supervisors and other who participate in the vaccination
• Develop and adapt existing surveillance and monitoring framework with a set of recommended indicators (Coverage, acceptability, disease surveillance etc,,,) for COVID-19 vaccine 
• Develop and adapt necessary reporting and monitoring tools (Vaccination cards/ certificate, facility based register, tally sheets, vaccination reporting formats and analytical tools to monitor progress and coverage
• Identify potential COVID-19 vaccine delivery strategies leveraging both existing vaccination platforms and non-vaccination delivery approaches to best reach identified target groups.
• Conduct readiness assessment on regular basis to identify areas for support and improvement 
• Plan for handling AEFI if happens and make sure on the availability of AEFI kits and forms
• Capture and share lesson learned and good practices that can potentially leverage the routine immunization and outbreak response practices
• Participate in COVAX post-introduction evaluation exercise
• Support continuation of routine immunization (RI) activities at all level
• Perform any other activity as required by national MCH Director/ EPI manager
• Ensure the ope-rationalization of COVID 19 precautions during immunization services provision 
• Facilitate and monitor timely budget utilization and liquidation of COVID-19 implementation and other RI budget 
• Frequent traveling to field (sub-national) as necessary
• Summit monthly report to the immediate supervisor (EPI manager)
• Submit a detail final report at the end of the assignment.

1. Expected Deliverables and Time frame

1. Reporting

The consultant will be directly recruited by third party HR firm, and reports to the FMOH EPI team lead and UNICEF ECO Immunization Specialist. 

1. Payment Modality and Schedule 

The fees for this contract shall paid on monthly basis based on the submission of monthly reports against the deliverables indicated above.