With over 1 billion doses of several different COVID-19 vaccines administered across the WHO European Region so far this year, the complexity and speed of new vaccine introduction has been unprecedented. One vital part of this process has been the training of health workers who administer the vaccines, on whom the whole vaccination programme in each country depends.
Body With over 1 billion doses of several different COVID-19 vaccines administered across the WHO European Region so far this year, the complexity and speed of new vaccine introduction has been unprecedented. One vital part of this process has been the training of health workers who administer the vaccines, on whom the whole vaccination programme in each country depends.
The WHO Country Office in Ukraine has been supporting the government in many areas of COVID-19 vaccination planning and implementation, including preparing health workers to safely store and administer the new vaccines. Before the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Ukraine in February 2021, 255 health workers, who made up the first 50 mobile and outreach vaccination teams, were trained thanks to a financial contribution from the Government of the United Kingdom.
Following this initial training, a rapid scale-up was needed to enable an effective and timely COVID-19 vaccination rollout across the country. From March and continuing through November 2021, a cascade approach was used, starting with a train-the-trainers course involving 340 health workers from primary and secondary care, medical educators, and health workers in the police and armed forces.
Cascade programme
These regional trainers, working through 28 regional training hubs, 12 training hubs in medical universities and 1 in an armed forces training centre, went on to train over 17 000 health workers and medical students in 670 2-day in-person courses throughout the country. Almost 75% of all personnel enrolled in delivering COVID-19 vaccination services in Ukraine so far have been trained through this programme, which is part of the European Union–WHO/Europe Action to support deployment of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination.
The cascade programme is organized by the WHO Country Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and its structures, including the Public Health Centre, the State Expert Centre and Academy of the National Health Service of Ukraine. Technical experts from the WHO Country Office continue to provide support to the regional trainers through a dedicated chat group, where trainers can pose questions and receive up-to-date WHO and national guidance.
“My normal work involves providing routine vaccination, so the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines was a big change to my daily routine. It was very helpful and reassuring to receive the training on specific aspects of COVID-19 vaccination that I had not encountered before. I was also glad to be able to become a regional trainer and share this knowledge with colleagues in my region," said Yevgeniia Lushchevska, primary care nurse, Rivne Region, Ukraine.
Training hubs
During almost 16 hours of training, participants learn how to handle and administer COVID-19 vaccine products and how to organize vaccination sessions in various settings. Participants also acquire practical skills on how to recognize and manage anaphylaxis and other acute allergic reactions. The training programme also includes information on how to enter individual patient data into the electronic medical records, as well as details of the national vaccine deployment plan.
Each course focuses on one of the licensed vaccine products and one of the delivery modalities, be it a vaccination centre or mobile vaccination team. To support the functioning of the training hubs, the WHO Country Office has provided logistical support, as well as procured and delivered over 250 000 pieces of personal protective equipment, stationery and printed educational materials.
The offline trainings will continue until the end of 2021, and it is planned that over 150 more courses will be conducted during December and an additional 3800 health workers will be trained. In 2022, the online course on COVID-19 vaccination from the OpenWHO platform will be made available in Ukrainian on that platform and on the online platform of the Ukrainian Public Health Centre. The online course will partially replace in-person courses, and in the future, online courses will be further leveraged to strengthen the capacity of health workers to deliver not only COVID-19 vaccines but also routine immunization services.
European Union Eastern Partnership project
The cascade trainings are part of the European Union (EU) and WHO/Europe partnership to support the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines and routine vaccination in the 6 EU Eastern Partnership countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
The project, funded by the EU and implemented by WHO/Europe, covers all phases of COVID-19 vaccine deployment and vaccination, constituting end-to-end support. It also serves as a major investment to strengthen routine immunization systems in the 6 countries.