Ministry of Health tables Shs 18.5bn supplementary budget for purchase of #Covid-19 vaccine

The Ministry of Health has submitted a Shs 18.5 billion supplementary budget for the purchase of the #Covid-19 vaccine. The request has been made before Parliament’s Budget Committee for consideration.

Yesterday, Ofwono Opondo confirmed that government through the Ministry of Health working with the National Medical Stores (NMS) have place an order of 18 million doses of Astra Zeneca vaccine from Serum Institute of India which will be used to vaccinate person from the ages of 50 and above, persons with underlying health implications, teachers, security personnel, teachers and other essential workers.

The eligible person will receive two doses in a space of four weeks and each dose costs USD 7 and that is USD 14 per person. The international transportation and handling cost by NMS is USD 3 making a total of 17 US dollars (approximately Shs60,000) per person.

“The order will be confirmed upon remitting USD 5 million. COVAX facility managed by Global Alliance for Vaccines and immunisation confirmed that 3,552,000 doses will be imported by the end of February or early in March. The vaccines will be available in the country on a quarterly basis,” he said.

The move to import the vaccines comes at the time when the private sector wants to participate in the importation of the vaccine however the cabinet noted that their participation will be guided by #Covid-19 task force headed by the Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.

Globally there 102,942,98 confirmed cases of Covid-19, including  2,232,233    deaths, reported to the world health organisation (WHO). Uganda has 39606 confirmed cases and 325 deaths.