UNICEF engages medical students in a country-wide campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination

TBILISI, Georgia, 29 October 2021 – Students specializing in the field of medicine from three different universities in Georgia will engage in a 6-month campaign, organized by UNICEF and the Association of Immunization and Vaccinology (AIVA) with support from USAID, to share information on and to promote the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Memorandums will be signed with the Tbilisi State University, the Tbilisi State Medical University, the Batumi State University and the International University Batumi to engage students in disseminating information about COVID-19 vaccines.

The campaign, with the slogan “You can end this pandemic!”, will target young people in selected regions and share evidence-based information on COVID-19, its possible complications and prevention measures, and will focus on why vaccination against COVID-19 is important.

With a network of medical students, a medical students league will be established. The league members or “med-iators” will first undergo a full day training to improve their understanding about the existing vaccination process and the available vaccines. Among the trainers are: Maia Gotua, Prof. M.D. Ph.D. General Director of the Center of Allergy and Immunology, Vice President of Georgian Association of Allergology and Clinical Immunology; Archil Marshania M.D. Anesthesiologist and Tamar Ratishvili M.D. member of the vaccine research group at Mayo Clinic.

After the initial training, the student league will be regularly updated on the latest information on COVID-19 vaccines and statistics, which the league will use for further communication with the communities. The students will go on field trips to hard-to-reach villages of mountainous Adjara, as well as ethnic minority communities in Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions. During the visits, the students will set up a visually prominent stand in the center of the village, where local population, especially young people, will receive latest and reliable information about COVID-19 vaccination. The students will also assist the local population in registering for vaccination and will distribute additional information, such as brochures and fliers in Armenian and Azerbaijani languages, targeting ethnic minorities.

UNICEF has been actively supporting the Government in raising awareness about the importance of COVID-19 vaccination in Georgia. Since May 2021, UNICEF has organized more than 50 informational meetings on COVID-19 vaccination across Georgia with local community leaders, teachers, nurses, doctors, religious leaders and tourism sector representatives to engage them in the national vaccination programme.