At the President Modibo KEITA Sénou international airport, the Minister of Health and Social Development, Ms. Diéminatou Sangaré, received 40,000 doses of Solidarity Trial vaccines on Sunday, September 5, 2021. These are molecules designed after an international study led by the World Health Organization. All of the vaccines in this trial were reviewed by leading scientists in several phases. The reception of this important batch of vaccines saw the presence of the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Mali, Dr Jean Pierre Baptiste and the director general of the National Institute of Public Health and national coordinator of health emergencies. , Prof. Samba Sow, members of the CNT and the

According to the WHO representative, Dr Jean Pierre Baptiste, all vaccines go through several stages before being operational. For the good progress of things, Mali is the 2 nd country in Africa chosen

for the last phase of testing this vaccine. This proves that our country is at the forefront of scientific research in the field of health. The WHO Resident Representative congratulated the Vaccine Development Center (CVD-Mali) for its efforts in this direction. He promises that his structure will follow up with the CVD team.

For his part, the Director General of INSP and National Coordinator of health emergencies in Mali, Prof. Samba Sow, said: “The word test should not be scary. All vaccines go through a scientific process. It is not the first time. When there was Ebola, I was the first to volunteer for the vaccine test. For Ebola, this was the first phase. With this vaccine, we are in a phase 2 and 3 study. This is for the immune response and the large-scale efficacy. It is a pride for our country to be chosen and to receive this vaccine. If these vaccines produce the desired result, which is very likely, our country will be in the first position to benefit from them ”.

As for the Minister of Health and Social Development, Ms. Diéminatou Sangaré, she recalled that these vaccines are part of the scientific research that Mali has placed at the center of its health promotion activities.

“These vaccines have been tested elsewhere to find out how dangerous they are. This is now the last phase of the effectiveness of the vaccine against COVID-19. This test is not compulsory, it is voluntary and will not affect the entire population. We will continue to focus on scientific research, ”she says. This testing process requires multiple vaccines to protect the world’s population from the virus and all of its different strains. Studies are being carried out in many parts of the world. WHO and its experts are developing new preventive vaccines against COVID-19.

The goal is to implement more promising vaccines. Large laboratories and small groups of people are in high demand. There is no 100% guarantee that vaccines that look promising are actually effective against COVID-19, unless there is a large-scale clinical study, such as the Solidarity Vaccine Trial.

The Solidarity Test will only use vaccines tested in previous studies and whose safety has been demonstrated.

Trial participants will either be given one of the trial vaccines or a placebo, a substance that is as harmless as water. Placebo is used to compare the effectiveness and degree of protection offered by vaccines versus no treatment. It should be noted that the participants will be followed closely for at least a year to measure the results and see the evolution.

Source: Ministry of Health and Social Development of Mali