Districts yet to exhaust vaccines as they expire

Some districts have not yet exhausted the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines, which are expiring tomorrow, a mini-survey conducted by Daily Monitor in 32 districts shows.

Officials in Tororo, Koboko, Arua, and Pader districts said they still have about 662 doses left but Buvuma didn’t disclose the exact number left.   

Statistics from the Ministry of Health indicate that as of Sunday, a total of 1.9 million doses of AstraZeneca and Sinovac had been administered out of the 2.1 million doses.

Ms Sandra Ewacabo, the Arua assistant chief administrative officer, said by Monday, they had a balance of more than 400 doses of AstraZenenca.

The district received 11,820 doses during the first batch , 2,730 in the second and  5,080 in the third one. 
Dr Denis Oloya, the Koboko health officer, said 112 doses are still in health facilities in the district.

He said Lurujo Health Centre has remained with 48 doses, Lobule Health Centre (16) while Ayipe Health Centre has 48.
In the eastern region, Dr Okoth Obbo, the Tororo health officer, said out of 7,487 doses of AstraZeneca the district received, they had been left with 50 dozes by Monday.

“After getting information about the expiry of the vaccines, I advised my team to concentrate on administering Astrazeneca,”  Mr Obbo said.
In Buvuma, Mr Zebio Wasswa, the district information officer, said they received 4,897 doses of AstraZeneca and were racing to exhaust the remaining doses.

“We are still vaccinating, and our only worry is that the remaining doses are among those yet to expire,” he said. Mr Wasswa declined to disclose the number of doses left.
He said 478 Buvuma islanders have completed their second dose while 1,872 got the first one.

However, majority of the districts had exhausted the doses, specifically the ones that will expire tomorrow.  
During his national address last week, President Museveni warned that the government would fire Resident District Commissioners,  CAOs and health officials from whose districts vaccines expire.

But a significant number said they were yet to exhaust Sinovac, which the National Medical Stores said it dispatched to districts in August. 
A total of 300,000 Sinovac doses were  earmarked to inoculate teachers.

According to the Education ministry, teachers who received their first dose have increased from 269,445 (49 per cent) seven days ago to 296,614 (54 per cent) as of Monday.
However, this is still far below the target of vaccinating 550,000 teachers for safe reopening of schools.  

Dr Alfred Driwale, the head of immunisation programme at the Ministry of Health, told clerics on Monday that they had administered most of the 67,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.
He said districts such as Arua, Moyo and Kampala were left with a few vaccines, but worked hard during the weekend to exhaust the doses. 
Officials in Moyo and Kampala confirmed yesterday that they had exhausted the doses. 

Dr Alfred Yayi, the district health officer, said: “I am happy to inform you that Yumbe District now has zero balance of Astrazeneca and 843 doses of Sinovac [are still] left. We shall be able to utilise the remaining doses of Sinovac in the next two days.”  

The assistant Kabale health officer in charge of child and martenal health, Mr Paddy Mwesigye, said all the Covid vaccines the district received have been administered to the target groups.  
“About 7,977 people in the district received the first doze of AstraZeneca while 3,633 have received their second doze. Out of these, 1,004 are health workers, while 3,442 are teachers, the rest are other categories. There is no Covid-19 vaccines that will expire in our stores,” he said yesterday.

Compiled by Joseph Omollo, Tonny Abet, Stephen Ariong, Alex Ashaba, Al Mahdi Ssenkabirwa , Ambrose Musasizi, Noeline Nabukenya ,Sylvester Ssemugenyi, Denis Ssebwami, Logino Muhindo, Alex Tumuhimbise, Scovia Atuhaire, Ismail Bategeka, Felix Warom Okello, Rashul Adidi, Robert Elema, Scovin Iceta,Tobbias Jolly Owiny & Marko Taibot.

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