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Mobile delivery of COVID-19 vaccines improved uptake in rural Sierra Leone

A trial that took mobile health services to rural Sierra Leone finds that this initiative increased COVID-19 vaccine uptake. But more must be done to expand the coverage of health services in low-income countries.
  1. Alison Buttenheim

    1. Alison Buttenheim is in the Department of Family and Community Health, School of Nursing, and at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104, USA.

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  2. Harsha Thirumurthy

    1. Harsha Thirumurthy is in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, and at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104, USA.

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The global roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines was characterized by vast inequities in the pace at which high- and low-income countries gained access to vaccine doses. When low-income countries did get a reliable supply of vaccines, however, they faced a challenge common in richer countries: how to vaccinate a large proportion of the population rapidly. Writing in Nature, Meriggi et al.1 show that, in rural Sierra Leone, offering COVID-19 vaccines at temporary mobile clinics over a period of two to three days substantially increased vaccination coverage compared with that in villages that did not have mobile clinics. Their study shows that bringing essential health services closer to people who lack easy access to them is crucial for improving health-care coverage.

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Nature 627, 497-499 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03186-0

References

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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