Spotlight: Vaccine acceptance now at 80% in Uganda

In a bid to prevent a potential third wave of Covid-19, the ministry of Health has embarked on a mass sensitisation campaign to see more people embracing vaccination.

The remarks were made during Spotlight Show on NBS TV on Monday under the topic: "Understating the Covid-19 vaccination Program in Uganda."

Experts from the ministry said the country will receive at least 12 million doses of vaccines before the end of December to boost the vaccine's availability.

The assistant Commissioner, Vaccines and Immunisation at the ministry, Dr. Alfred Driwale explained that the challenges they are facing with the vaccination uptake are issues to do with the health system readiness, readiness of the target group, and the poor response from sections of the general public.

“Humans by nature require incentives to act and this is a new vaccine against a new pandemic. Those who don't have access to information get caught up. We need to vaccinate to protect the vulnerable people. Vaccines are a critical tool to fight Covid-19,”he said.

Driwale said that if the priority group (4.8 million people) are not fully vaccinated by December 30 2021, it will complicate decisions, adding that controlling this pandemic requires responsibility and no amount of policing will help the country.

Driwale said during the second wave, the majority of the people who died were 50 years and above and others had underlying health conditions.

The Director-General Health Services, Dr. Henry Mwebesa said that the second wave was stronger than the first because it overwhelmed their system more than they had anticipated.

He assured the population that the government has put in a lot of resources to handle the third wave in case it comes.

"We can avoid the third wave if we adhere to the SOPs. Recently, we have added students above 18 years to the vaccination priority group. Between October and December, we are expecting another 4.95 million doses. We shall have 12 million doses of the vaccine available including those purchased by government especially Johnson Johnson," he stated.

Mwebesa said that Uganda will have enough vaccines to take it through December all the way to 2022 and approximates the number to hit the Ministry’s target population for vaccination which is over 22 million people.

He said that vaccine acceptance is now at 80% in Uganda which indicate that Ugandans are now willing to get vaccinated against the deadly diseases.

"Only 259 people are admitted with Covid-19 across the country, this is good news. I hope it will warrant full opening and lifting curfew as many people get vaccinated. We do not have any expired vaccines currently,"said Mwebesa.

Mwebesa urged Ugandans who are vaccinated to continue adhering to the standard operating procedures because one can still get and spread Covid-19 even when he or she is vaccinated.