Volunteers Promote Vaccination Campaign in Chui Region

Chui region is located in the northern part of Kyrgyzstan. The total area of the region is 20.2 thousand square kilometers, or 10 percent of the territory of the republic. About 1 million people live in the region (15.4% of the country's population). If you do not take the Suusamyr valley (23% of the region) with a small population and add the capital (1.2 million), then this is one of the most densely populated areas of the country.

Large industrial centers such as Kara-Balta and Tokmok are located in the region. There are also large settlements such as Kemin, Sokuluk, Belovodsk, Kayindy, Kant. Other features of the region are a multinational region with a large number of internal migrants.

The total number of detected cases of COVID-19 and pneumonia caused by the pneumonia virus in the Chui region as of December 5, 2021 was 28,273, or 15.4% of the total number of diseases in the country (a total of 183,615 cases).

During the epidemic in the Chui region, 441 people died out of 2,760 people throughout the country. This represents 16% of the total number of deaths in the country.

It should be noted that, unlike other regions, residents of the Chui region, due to geographical proximity, can transport a patient, especially a serious one, to the capital. It is believed that the quality of treatment in the capital's hospitals is better.

Vaccination.

As of December 5, 2021, a total of 1,134,375 people (47.3% of the target group) were vaccinated with the first dose across the country, 910,423 people were fully vaccinated.

As of December 7, 2021, 1,139,466 people in Kyrgyzstan received the vaccine, or slightly less than 50% of citizens from the target group of 2.4 million citizens (this is 36.4% of the country's population). The target group did not include children under 18 years of age, 840 thousand migrants, people with chronic diseases. In addition, only 70% of the population was targeted.
According to the expert of the World Health Organization Lyudmila Musina, the vaccination rate slows down after the citizens who were initially ready for it receive the vaccine. In different data, this number is different, in Kyrgyzstan there are about 25-30% of the population.

The main reasons for refusal to vaccinate are citizens' lack of confidence in vaccinations, negative information in the media or lack of a vaccine. The latter, of course, does not apply to our country, where all types of vaccines are available.

Director of the Republican Center for Immunoprophylaxis Gulbara Ishenapisova in an interview with AKIpress said that the government changed the tactics of the vaccination campaign - instead of universal vaccination, it was decided to focus on specific groups, such as senior citizens or by profession.

Since then, the target group has also been expanded - adolescents from the age of 16 can receive the vaccine, instead of 18 years. Also, certain groups can now receive a third, booster dose of the vaccine.

As of December 7, 2021, the stock of vaccines against COVID-19 in the country was equal to 1 million 768 thousand 265 doses.

Volunteers

In October this year, a group of volunteers with financial support from the US Embassy (Small Grants Program) launched a campaign to promote vaccination in the Chui region of the country.

A group of volunteers of about 10 people take turns visiting large settlements of the region: Kemin, Tokmok, Kant, Sokuluk, Belovodsk, Kara-Balta, Kaindy.

In localities, volunteers handed out posters calling for vaccinations and telephone hotlines of the Ministry of Health, as well as leaflets with information about vaccines and addresses of vaccination points.

For three months, volunteers plan to distribute 10 thousand posters and 40 thousand leaflets in crowded places, such as bazaars, bus stations, main streets of settlements.

Since September, the number of daily vaccinations in the country has stabilized and exceeds 6 thousand doses.