Concern as schools in Wakiso shun Yellow Fever vaccination exercise

Some schools in Wakiso District have blocked health workers from vaccinating learners against Yellow Fever during the ongoing one-week exercise that kicked off Tuesday.

Mr Emmanuel Damba, the Wakiso District senior environmental health officer, said some school administrators claim they have to first get consent from parents before allowing district medical teams to vaccinate children under their care.

“It is unfortunate that Day One [of Mass Yellow Fever vaccination] was not so smooth as expected because in some schools particularly those that are private, we found some challenges of not allowing our teams to start the exercise,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

He added some school proprietors and head teachers still have a bias on vaccines from the government because of some COVID-19 vaccines that had adverse effects on some people.

“We are moving from school to school, mobilizing them to participate in this exercise because it is free of charge and compulsory to all,” he said.

Mr Ddamba said that upon vaccinating the learners, the schools are required to report to the nearest government health centre in case of any health threat.

Mr Eric Kiiza, the head teacher of Bright Angels Junior School, Namusera in Wakiso District, said they will embrace the exercise after getting parents' consent.

“Yes, the health teams came here, but because our parents are our biggest stakeholders, we had to first consult them if they were fine with this vaccination,” he said.

Dr Mathias Lugoloobi, the acting District Health Officer, said the yellow fever immunization campaign is targeting people between one and sixty years who have never been vaccinated before because it is a one-time jab.

“Pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, people who are very sick, HIV/AIDS patients and people with other chronic illnesses are not allowed to get vaccinated during this campaign,” he said.

Wakiso District has received 3 million doses of yellow fever vaccines and the target is to vaccinate between 2.8million to 3 million residents, according to Dr Lugoloobi

At least 14.5 million Ugandans between the ages of one and 60 years are expected to be vaccinated against yellow fever during this second phase of mass vaccination exercise.

Yellow fever is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes that often bite people during the day, who encroach on their habitats, specifically in the jungles. There is no specific treatment for Yellow Fever, but experts can attend to the symptoms and conditions it presents to the victim and prevent death.

The yellow fever symptoms include; fever, yellowing of the skin and eyes (hence the name yellow fever), dark urine, abdominal pain with vomiting and bleeding that can occur from the mouth, nose, eyes or stomach.

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