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Govt okays mixing Pfizer, AstraZeneca shots
A nurse administrators a Covid-19 jab during the launch of the mass vaccination at Mulago Women’s Specialised Hospital on March 10. PHOTO | KELVIN ATUHAIRE
What you need to know:
- Still to come. The country is also expecting 300,000 doses of Sinovac from the Chinese government by July as well as five million doses of Johnson & Johnson on a yet to be known date.
- Uganda is also expecting 286,080 doses of AstraZeneca from Covax before the end of the month and another 688,800 doses by early next month.
The Ministry of Health has said those who fail to get the second dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab will be allowed to take the Pfizer vaccine and vice versa to complete the vaccination.
These are the only brands that can be mixed, according the ministry.
The director for General Duties at the ministry, Dr Henry Mwebesa, yesterday said: “You can get your second dose as AstraZeneca or Pfizer. If you got AstraZeneca first as dose one and there is no AstraZeneca for your second dose you can get Pfizer,” Dr Mwebesa said.
Dr Mwebesa added that the Chinese vaccine, Sinovac, cannot be mixed with the others, while the Johnson & Johnson is administered as a single shot.
Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the ministry’s spokesperson, told the media early this week that Uganda would receive a donation of 647,010 doses of Pfizer this month.
This is the first time that the country will have different brands of Covid-19 vaccines as the world moves to understand the concept of mixing and matching vaccines.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently advised the public against mixing and matching Covid-19 vaccines from different manufacturers, calling it a “dangerous trend” adding that more data is needed on the impact.
Countries like Thailand have, however, given the trend the green light. Some studies have also indicated the possibility of a more potent immune boost from mixing vaccines.
In its pilot rollout of the vaccination drive in March, the ministry decided to give only one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to cover as many people in the target categories as possible, until more vaccines were acquired.
The initial stock of 964,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from the Covax initiative and the Indian government were exhausted.
In June, an additional 175,200 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines shipped in from France as the country moves to inoculate 21.9 million of its population
On the nature of distribution of the Pfizer vaccine, Dr Mwebesa says the ministry will prioritise giving two doses, but the guidelines could be revised as more vaccines come in.
“We may have to prioritise one and two doses because we are not sure of getting another consignment but that will depend. We can discuss later…,” he said.
Dr Alfred Driwale, the head of the immunisation programme at the Ministry of Health, said the distribution plan for all the expected vaccines is still in the works, pending internal approvals.
Dr Driwale also said the mixing of vaccines is also still being discussed further.
“It is something under discussion, we will be giving you details in due course. We are going to receive it [vaccines] but the deployment and guidelines, we are still working on them,” Dr Driliwale
Dr Driwale said they are now waiting for the details of the flights ferrying the vaccines and are yet to zero down on a specific date.
The ministry has projected arrival dates between July 21 and July 27 for vaccines expected this month.
