Vaccines for teachers’ second dose yet to arrive, says govt
A woman receives the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine jab during the launch of the mass vaccination at Mulago Women’s Specialised Hospital on March 10. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- She took the first dose at Bat Valley Primary School on August 25 along with more than 100 teachers, but when September 22 clocked, the government said it had run out of Sinovac vaccines. The vaccine is given four weeks apart.
Ms Christine Namara, a teacher at Lugogo Vocational Training Institute in Kampala, was promised the second shot of the Chinese-made Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine on September 22.
She took the first dose at Bat Valley Primary School on August 25 along with more than 100 teachers, but when September 22 clocked, the government said it had run out of Sinovac vaccines. The vaccine is given four weeks apart.
But Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health spokesperson, said yesterday that teachers who are waiting for a second jab should not worry anymore.
“Uganda will next week on October 19, receive more 700,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccines from the government of China Flag of China. This is an addition to the 300,000 earlier received,” he said in a tweet yesterday.
The government in August ring-fenced 300,000 doses of the vaccines which were donated by the Chinese government for vaccinating teachers to increase vaccine uptake among them so as to pave way for reopening schools.
Dr Immaculate Ampaire, the deputy manager of Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunisation (UNEPI), told this reporter earlier that they were expecting more doses of the vaccines in September. She said the vaccines were an additional donation by the Chinese government.
“We [Ministry of Health] want to complete the vaccination of priority groups so that we shift the focus to the general population,” she said.
Dr Ampaire said the second dose for Sinovac will be given four weeks after the first dose, unlike the Astrazeneca vaccines where the second shot is administered after 12 weeks.
The government has also said they are not allowing mixing of vaccines.
President Museveni and his wife Janet, who is the Education minister, have vowed not to allow unvaccinated teachers in class when schools reopen.
Dr Misaki Wayengera, the head of scientists advising government on Covid-19 said people who are not fully vaccinated have partial immunity.
