Children aged between 12 - 18 in Uganda are now eligible for Covid-19 vaccination, the Health Ministry has announced.
Dr. Henry Mwebesa, who is the Director General Health Services at the Ministry of Health made this revelation.
Mwebesa said that children between 12 - 18 will only be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine.
The Health Ministry according to Mwebesa will put emphasis on children that are living with chronic illnesses.
“Children aged between 12 - 18 years with commodities like diabetes, sickle cell, cancer, asthma etc can now be vaccinated with Pfizer vaccine,” Mwebesa said.
Mwebesa also added that vaccination has now been officially opened up to everyone above 18 to get vaccinated regardless of their health status. Previously, the focus was on the elderly and those who are categorised as “high risk population.”
The development comes at a time when the country is trying to boost the vaccine uptake in preparation for the January 2022 full reopening of the economy.
President Museveni said in a recent address on Covid-19 in the country that government will fully reopen up the economy in January 2022, regardless of the vaccinated population at that time.
The President had initially set the target for full reopening at 4.8 million Ugandans in the high risk category.
According to the data from the Ministry of Health, the country has so far vaccinated 3.1 million people with at least one dose of the vaccine.
