In the Democratic Republic of Congo, less than one percent of the population is vaccinated against COVID-19 even though it began its vaccination campaign in April 2021. In order to improve the results, in November VillageReach started supporting the Congolese government to vaccinate a large number of people through the vaccinodromes launched in four areas of Kinshasa, which include Gombe, Kalamu, Masina and N’djili. The overall goal of the initiative is to ensure the accessibility and availability of vaccines, bringing them closer to where people live and work.
Join us through this photo series as we go through a high-level tour of the sites.
Vaccinodrome at Marché de la Liberté in Masina
The vaccinodrome at Marché de la Liberté is located in the southern part of one of the largest markets in Kinshasa. A few steps from the vaccinodrome stands the Kabila Statue, which was gifted by the late President Laurent-Désiré Kabila to the population of the Tshangu district as a reward for their bravery in resisting rebel aggression. As we had seen in our first two tours of vaccinodromes – of Place des Évolués and Place des Artistes – each site is designed with its environment in mind and, in this lively and crowded market where different businesses abound, different strategies also abound to increase the numbers of vaccinated people. Learn more about the vaccinodrome deployments here.
In front of the vaccinodrome, a banner overlooking the main road is attached with an awareness message in Lingala, one of the national languages that is widespread in the community: “To protect ourselves from the COVID-19 disease, it is important to get vaccinated against Coronavirus at Marché de la Liberté. The vaccine is free. With vaccination we protect ourselves and our families.”
The Community Health Workers (CHWs) are the everyday heroes of COVID-19, who walk through the big market to encourage people to get vaccinated. While one is doing the outreach, the other is pre-registering participants.
Under the blue tent, participants take turns registering according to the order of arrival by the input recorders, a requirement for having access to vaccines in the vaccinodrome. Some participants were sensitized by the CHW, others were attracted by the banners around the vaccinodrome, and the rest come for other reasons.
The site is designed to accommodate everyone without discrimination, and the health providers are also prepared to receive them. Jean-Claude lives with a visual impairment, and came with his daughter. Here he is shown going through the registration process.
To reinforce safety measures, a hand washing station is set at the entrance of the vaccinodrome to encourage each person to wash their hands.
All the essential steps for vaccination take place in this tent of 72 m2, with the exception of triage and registration, which are done before entering the vaccinodrome. At the entrance on the left, there is the clinician’s station, followed by the four vaccinators of the different vaccines (Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer and Sinovac) and the end of the space is arranged as an observation room.
Once in the vaccinodrome, the clients stop at their first station to meet the clinician, who after consultation determines whether the clients are eligible for vaccination.
At the next station on the right sit the output recorders, followed by the data clerks and finally the data analyst.
The last station, after getting the vaccine, is with the output recorders before heading to the observation room.
Clients end up in the observation room where they spend at least 15 minutes in order to make sure that there are no adverse reactions.
Now you have come to the end of this vaccinodrome tour, be sure to visit the final tour, of our N’djili vaccine site.