Apply Now: Open Call & Announcement of the Vaccine Data Co-Lab
COVIDaction is launching the Vaccine Data Co-Lab, with the ambition to invest in the essential data systems needed to support vaccine prioritisation and rollout.
As the name suggests, the Vaccine Data Co-Lab is a collaboration with governments, civil society organisations, and network partners to close data gaps in vaccine rollouts in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The initiative is led by the FCDO’s COVIDaction programme and is working in collaboration with the COVAX GIS working group. As a first activity, the Vaccine Data Co-Lab is launching an Open Call for technical proposals. The Open Call is for organisations working directly with local and national governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to ensure sustained capacity for vaccine deployment.
APPLY: Submit your application here
The role of data in the fair and equitable distribution of vaccines
WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom has urgently called upon the world to invest in distributing COVID-19 vaccines globally. He warns that variants are evolving and failure to deliver vaccinations will put more people at risk and jeopardise progress in countries currently receiving vaccines. LMICs lack the capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic because their data and statistical resources at a national level are already overstretched. We know this first hand through early research we commissioned alongside the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD). Moreover, in LMICs the vaccine rollout will take years, not months. With stretched and limited resources, policymakers face extremely difficult decisions about what groups to first prioritise for vaccine distribution. These decisions are ideally transparent, equitable, and meet national strategic needs; however, many LMICs face challenges in this area.
Delivering COVID-19 vaccines safely, equitably, and rapidly across the world is a way that global health systems can respond to and prevent future health crises. The Vaccine Data Co-Lab has been set up to address these challenges.
The Vaccine Data Co-Lab looks to deliver impact through:
- An open call for proposals that address vaccine data needs through financial and technical support;
- Delivering emerging research, including global guidance and best practices; and
- Coordinating with existing in-country data partners to address data gaps and ensure alignment with global initiatives run by COVAX and others.
The Vaccine Data Co-Lab Open Call builds on the work to address the prioritisation of vaccines that has been supported by FCDO through the COVIDaction programme since March 2020.
The Open Call
As a first activity, the Vaccine Data Co-Lab is launching an Open Call for technical proposals. We’re looking to support organisations working directly with local and national governments to ensure sustained capacity for vaccine deployment. Applications submitted to this call must be able to demonstrate a data solution that can address vaccine data needs of MoH, NITAG, National Statistics Offices, local government entities, municipalities, or other relevant governments partners. The applying organisation must have buy-in from a national-government partner that is willing to support the application, and it must provide information on how the solution is aligned with the country’s National Deployment and Vaccine Plan. Criteria for the Open Call have been developed in accordance with the WHO guidance on developing a national deployment and vaccination plan and will inform WHO’s micro-planning processes.
All eligible applications will be made available for partnership and investment opportunities, and select applicants will be matched directly with funding and technical assistance.
APPLY: Submit your application here to the Vaccine Data Co-Lab. A PDF version of the application is available here for reference, however, all applications must be submitted through the Typeform link.
Webinars & Submission Deadline
We are reviewing applications and awarding funds on a rolling basis and will close the first round of application at 11:59 pm BST on 14 June. Ahead of the deadline, and to hear more about the Vaccine Data Co-Lab, we encourage applicants to participate in one of our upcoming webinars:
Background on the COVIDaction Vaccine Data Co-Lab
This call for proposals builds on the success of the Data Challenge for COVIDaction, which was launched nearly one year ago. COVIDaction invested in and supports a portfolio of tools that address COVID-19 data needs for Ministries of Health, National Statistics Offices, and others to provide evidence-driven policy decisions. As COVID-19 efforts shifted from detection and prevention to vaccine distribution, COVIDaction worked with COVAX GIS Working Group to launch the Vaccine Data Co-Lab to support LMIC decision-makers with tools required for equitable, transparent, and efficient vaccine delivery. To view that call and learn more about the outcomes visit: https://medium.com/covidaction/data/home
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Watch this space for more information, and if you are on Twitter, follow @COVIDactionTech for updates.
Are you also interested in the role of data tools for the equitable and fair distribution of vaccines? Or do you have questions about the open call? We want to hear from you! Email us at COVIDaction-data@hellobrink.co
