Uganda through the COVAX facility sharing arrangement has received 655,053 more doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Belgium (153,900 doses) and France (501,153 doses) to support its Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
Receiving the vaccines from the two country’s ambassadors to Uganda at the National Medical Stores (NMS) on Thursday, the State Minister for Primary Healthcare, Ms Margaret Muhang said the vaccines will mainly be used to inoculate priority groups waiting for their second dose.
She disclosed that “To date, Uganda has received a total of 2,153,140 doses of the AstraZeneca, 300,000 doses of the Sinovac, 647,080 of Moderna, 1,674,270 doses of Pfizer and now 655,053 additional doses of Astrazeneca to support the mass Covid 19 vaccination exercise,” she said.
Ms Muhanga also revealed that the ministry is set to unveil a mass vaccination campaign against Covid-19 across the country starting September 27 to October 8 in order to deploy the vaccine stocks that have been received this month.
“We have so far vaccinated 1,257,110 people with the first dose while 520,575 people have received their second dose. Before we open the Universities, higher institutions of learning we need all the students to be vaccinated, we envisage most of them are above 18 years of age,” she added.
The French ambassador Jules- Armand Aniambossou said the consignment to Uganda was part of a French donation of 10 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to the African Union.
“The donation is in partnership with COVAX and the African vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT). It is the concretization of the commitment made by the French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 summit in Carbis Bay last June to deliver 60 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries by the end of 2021,” he said.
The Belgian ambassador, Rudi Veestraeten said the 153,900 doses are part of 344,800 vaccine jabs Belgium plans to donate to Uganda to contribute to stepping up the vaccination campaign for teachers and reopening schools.
“Like Uganda, Belgium has ratified the convention on the rights of the child. Under this convention, the state bears the responsibility to ensure all children’s rights to education is respected. The reopening of schools in Uganda is, therefore, necessary and Belgium is pleased to directly contribute towards this goal by donating Covid-19 vaccines to the education sector,” he said.
