Uganda through the Ministry of Health has received a donation of 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca #Covid-19 vaccine from the Government of India.
The vaccines were received by the Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng on Sunday evening who urged Ugandans that vaccination does not mean the public should stop following the #Covid-19 prevention measures.
This adds to the first 864,000 doses of the AstraZeneca #Covid-19 vaccine that were received from COVAX facility on Friday.
Government will kick off Vaccination against #Covid-19 on Wednesday, 10 March 2021 with health-care workers in public health facilities..
The vaccination campaign target in Uganda stands at 21,936,011 people equivalent to 49.6 per cent of population of Uganda compared with the target population earlier communicated (60 per cent and 27,000,000 people) in line with WHO and Africa CDC global guidance.
The Minister said the vaccines available are not yet authorized for use in persons younger than 18 years of age in whom research is still ongoing. If vaccines become available for below the age of 18, the ministry will update its plan accordingly and inform the public.
The #Covid-19 vaccine is given intramuscularly on the left upper arm – 0.5mls each. All health workers from public, private not for profit and private health facilities will be the first group to receive the vaccines.
The second group will be the teachers. All teachers will be required to access vaccines from the nearest public health facility starting from HC III up to a National Referral Hospital.
The third category will be all persons above 50 years of age. The next category eligible for vaccination are the 18 to 50-year olds who have the following underlying health conditions: hypertension, Diabetes, cancer, organ diseases such as Liver, Kidney or heart disease. Each category will be alerted on the days on which to report for vaccination
All persons eligible for vaccination will be required to provide a National Identification-NIN Card in the case of Ugandan citizens or a passport in the case of non-Ugandans.
