Vaccine policies meaningless without finances

ON JANUARY 10, 2024, South Sudan declared a measles outbreak in its Western Equatoria state.

- VICTORINE DE MILLIANO & PAMELA ONANGO

With an alarming number of people in Western Equatoria never having been vaccinated against measles, there was an urgent need to start a large-scale measles vaccination to curb the spread of the disease in the area and its surroundings, protect people from contracting measles and, ultimately, save as many lives as possible.

However, obstacles around getting and using the measles vaccine in-country meant that it took almost four months for any measles vaccinations to begin in Western Equatoria. In the interim, thousands of people fell ill, and at least 13 people died, seven of whom were children under 5 years old.

For over five decades, MSF has been vaccinating people through routine vaccination, preventive vaccination campaigns, and in response to disease outbreaks in some of the world’s most challenging humanitarian settings.

Our years of experience have taught us invaluable lessons about vaccinating in humanitarian settings, and it’s because of this that we know the delay in South Sudan was not exceptional. Often, getting access to vaccine supplies requires months of negotiations around how and when they can be accessed - negotiations which often start anew each time there is a need. Such slow-moving coordination wastes valuable time and risks lives. But we don’t think it has to be this way.