President Museveni has warned that he would fire district leaders in areas where Covid-19 vaccines are wasted or left to expire as the government scales up efforts to inoculate at least 22 million Ugandans.
Museveni said in a televised address on the Covid-19 situation in the country last night directed with immediate effect that all RDCs, CAOs and DHOs must carry out intensive mobilization for all eligible priority groups to go for vaccination.
He added that they should ensure that no vaccines are wasted or left to expire, warning that in any district where vaccines expire, the RDC, CAO and DHO will be dismissed.
The latest ministry of health report indicates that so far, only 1,777, 685 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the whole country with 3,135 virus deaths recorded since March last year when the virus outbreak was confirmed in the country.
According to the government, the country has so far recorded 122,502 positive cases since March last year with 340 active cases currently on admission at different health centers across the country.
The president further said the UPDF and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will support the Ministry of Health to complete the modifications necessary for installation of the testing facilities and to carry out the surveillance processes.
Meanwhile, 67,000 AstraZeneca vaccines are set to expire at the end of this month.
The vaccines were part of a batch of 128,560 doses that were donated by Norway and according to records from the health ministry, 12,000 are in Kampala and 8,000 in Arua.
With just 7 days left until the end of the month, Abiaz Rwamwiri, the National Drug Authority-NDA Principle Public Relations officer says the vaccines are still good for use.
The government has been carrying out vaccination of teachers, health workers, people with comorbidities, security personnel and other persons.
However, despite the pending expiry of vaccines within Kampala, many vaccination sites in the city centre are not carrying out vaccination.
Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health Spokesperson earlier on said that there were very few vaccines left in Kampala.
Between now and December, Uganda is expected to receive more than 9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines with 3.3 million of these having been procured by the government while the rest are donations.
With such a big number of vaccines expected, there is fear of wastage and expiry of vaccines.
According to the World Health Organization, on average 5 percent of vaccines are wasted during national campaigns.
