Last-mile delivery increases vaccine uptake in Sierra Leone. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38480877/)

These scientists wanted to make sure that more people in Africa could get the COVID-19 vaccine, especially those living in hard-to-reach places like remote villages in Sierra Leone. They decided to try something new to help these communities get vaccinated. They sent mobile teams with vaccines and health workers to these remote areas and also worked with the local communities to encourage people to get vaccinated.

They did a special study in 150 different communities to see if this new way of delivering vaccines would work. They found that by using mobile teams to bring vaccines directly to these remote areas, they were able to increase the number of people getting vaccinated by a lot. In fact, they saw a 26% increase in the number of people getting vaccinated within just a few days.

They also found that by having these mobile teams visit these communities, they were able to vaccinate even more people than they expected. This meant that for every person vaccinated, it cost about $33.

The scientists learned that by making it easier for people in remote areas to get vaccines, more people will choose to get vaccinated. This is important because it helps protect more people from getting sick. They also found that by combining different health services, like vaccinations and check-ups for moms and kids, they could make it even more cost-effective to deliver these services to remote areas.

Overall, this study showed that by bringing vaccines directly to people who have a hard time getting them, we can help more people stay healthy and protected from diseases like COVID-19.

Meriggi NF., Voors M., Levine M., Ramakrishna V., Kangbai DM., Rozelle M., Tyler E., Kallon S., Nabieu J., Cundy S., Mobarak AM. Last-mile delivery increases vaccine uptake in Sierra Leone. Nature. 2024 Mar 13. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07158-w.