Govt resumes mass Covid-19 vaccination
A health worker administers Covid-19 jabs to people turned up at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala for the mass vaccination exercise on May 27, 2021. PHOTO/RACHEL MABALA
What you need to know:
A total of 17.2 million doses of vaccines have been administered so far
The Ministry of Health has said Ugandans are responding well to the renewed mass Covid-19 vaccination.
The exercise is taking place in Acholi, Ankole, Bunyoro, Karamoja, Kigezi and Tooro sub-regions where mass vaccination was conducted last year. It will run from March 15 to March 24.
“We are doing well. You know for the first dose, we are now at 65 percent [coverage] and we are currently undertaking the activity across the country for the second round,” the ministry spokesperson, Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, told Daily Monitor yesterday.
He added: “People are getting vaccinated and we hope it will help us reach at least 80 percent vaccination rate and also supplement the coverage of the second dose, which is at around 34 percent.”
The country is racing to vaccinate at least 22 million people against Covid-19 to effectively control the pandemic and guarantee the recovery of the economy as foreign countries such as China start to report fresh spikes in infections.
Dr Daniel Kyabayinze, the head of public health services at the Ministry of Health, who is also the national coordinator for Covid-19 vaccination campaign, said they have so far acquired 42 million doses of vaccines.
He said they will use eight million doses for the renewed mass vaccination exercise to effectively utilise the doses at hand and reach the targeted people.
“We are calling upon Ugandans to care for their lives. We don’t know when the next wave will be. We are telling people to adhere to preventive measures and go for vaccination,” Dr Kyabayinze said.
Many health experts have said the country has been experiencing reduced uptake of Covid-19 vaccines because people do not see a strong need to go for the vaccination with the declining infections and deaths.
Since its outbreak in 2020, Covid-19 has infected 163,542 people in Uganda and killed up to 3,594.
A total of 17.2 million doses of vaccines have been administered so far.
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