Now’s a good time for our leaders to practice a different kind of patriotism

Let us flip the coin and imagine Covid-19 as a resurgence of a clique of rebels such as Allied Democratic Forces or Lord’s Resistance Army anywhere in Uganda, would the response by the government be similar to what we are having now?

The number of Ugandans with severe illnesses and deaths from Covid-19 is unprecedented. It would appear as if we were losers in a critical world cup final. 

Talking to friends in the United States of America and the United Kingdom about the current state of public life in both countries, as well as watching the Euro 2020, where people are interacting very close to each other in the soccer stadia, I have come to the conclusion that the game changer in this Covid-19 pandemic for Uganda and indeed sub–Saharan Africa would be mass vaccination at once!

According to www.ourworldindata.org<http://www.ourworldindata.org,  I am meant to understand that more than 50 per cent of all the 300 million Americans are already fully vaccinated; little wonder most of the East Coast beaches are open for recreational activities. Further, it is not a requirement to keep facemasks on in public places in most states of USA now.

Can we as Ugandans, also shift the biggest part of our discussion from ‘Steaming’, ‘Covidex’, ‘Dexa’,‘Ivermectin’ or even ‘Azithromycin’ and others to Covid-19 vaccines?

Is there any progress in the direction of coming up with a Ugandan-made Covid-19 vaccine? Away from home, is there any medical research institute in Africa working tirelessly to come up with a Covid-19 vaccine?

Has the more than 1.3 billion human race population in Africa failed to make headway in this direction?

In order to better perceive our predicament, let us quickly review the current Ugandan vaccination reach in figures. 

The generosity from Covax, which is the global initiative to acquire and distribute Covid-19 vaccines, shall only enable half a million Ugandans to be fully vaccinated out of approximately 20 million targeted.

This is only 2.5 per cent of the proposed 70 per cent population target that has allowed Europe and America open up fully. Things just don’t add up!

If indeed our leaders are in for the people, can Mr Jacob Oulanyah, the Speaker of Parliament ,rally his fellow legislators to commit emergency resources to vaccinate all Ugandans at once? 

That, instead of throwing daggers at private hospitals that are doing their best to help an already ailing public health system, they should offer Ugandans the best gift ever since 1962. 

By giving up the money meant to buy their Toyota Land Cruisers  to the cause of purchasing Covid-19 vaccines or oxygen or ICU beds or even pay allowances to healthcare workers dying at the frontline of this Covid-19 war.

Where is the patriotism in our leaders?

Can these vehicles wait until 2022/2023 financial year? Imagine what Shs200 million or $40,000 from 529 MPs would accomplish!

This is a whooping 7 million doses of Astra Zeneca or 3.5 million Ugandans with sufficient vials to be vaccinated fully against Covid-19. Only when our leaders are patriotic by example, will we conquer this Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Joseph Gavin Nyanzi is the chair, publicity and mobilization committee, Uganda Medical Association.