Immunisation against Covid-19 started in Uganda on March 10 and officials reported 17 days later, on March 27, that they had inoculated 46,664 people.
The inoculation of the population that began with 964,000 doses acquired through donations is being done using the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured at Serum Institute of India.
The country is struggling with low uptake of the vaccines with hesitancy among some frontline workers who include teachers with only 3% vaccinated although schools are now partially open.
According to the Ugandan government, Uganda needs almost 44 million doses for the target 21.9 million population – with each person receiving two jabs. However, the population of Uganda is estimated to be 25,000,000 higher at 46,961,305 based on the latest United Nations figures as reported by ‘Countrymeters’ on 27 April 2021.
It’s slightly more than a year since the first case of Covid-19 was registered in Uganda and the country has officially lost at least 341 lives to the pandemic with 41,715 cases. Some coronavirus patients remain in hospital and thousands are battling the after-effects of the disease, including stigma.
NB: Some information taken from ‘Daily Monitor’ newspaper reports.
Hasifa, Deputy Nurse-in-Charge at the Kabubbu Health Centre, was the first member of staff – and the first person in Kabubbu – to be vaccinated on Thursday last week.