1.3 million children get Covid jabs - govt

The Health ministry has said a total of 1.3 million children aged 12 to 17 have been inoculated with at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to effectively control the pandemic.
This means only 20 percent of 6.5 million children who have been targeted were reached .
The ministry is also grappling with campaigns by activists who claim the risks of Covid-19 vaccines for children far outweigh the benefits.
However, the ministry said the claim is malicious and is not based on evidence. 

Dr Michael Baganizi, the deputy manager for Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunisation, told this publication last week that they had delivered vaccines to different health facilities.
 “We are vaccinating children aged 12-17 with Pfizer, which is the approved vaccine for them. In our Covid-19 vaccination programme, we are doing community outreaches to bring vaccines closer to people who are not vaccinated and those who need booster doses,” Dr Baganizi said.
 He added: “There is a small portion of 6.5 million eligible children who are in boarding schools. We are planning the next phase of vaccination for such learners next holiday. But those who are day scholars and in communities can get the vaccine in health facilities or during our outreaches.” 

The government earlier banned vaccination of children in schools because it was causing breaches in the requirement for consent from parents before the children are vaccinated. 
Some parents have complained that their children were harmed by the vaccines which were administered in schools. 
A family in Mpigi District last month dragged the government to court after their child allegedly died after vaccination in school without their consent. 
Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health minister, said: “We have vaccinated children who have been brought voluntarily by their parents for vaccination against Covid-19 and I want everybody to know that all the centres are open. We have adequate vaccines for every child who needs it and is willing to accept.”

According to ministry statistics, of the 1.3 million who are vaccinated, only 265,000 are fully vaccinated. 
Dr Baganizi said they are grappling with vaccine hesitancy, a problem the ministry in June said had caused the expiry of vaccine doses worth Shs173b. 
 Dr Baganizi said they are doing an assessment to find out additional doses which have expired.
Asked what the government can do to increase vaccine uptake for the general population, Dr Simon Antara, the head of the African Field Epidemiology Network, said the government should develop new strategies to increase public confidence and interest in the vaccines.
 “The scientific evidence in terms of the benefits is there. The benefits of the vaccination are very huge. What is lacking is the marketing gap and not the evidence gap,” he said. 

Up to 20 percent of 21.9 million people, who were prioritised from the start of the vaccination in March last year, are not vaccinated while 58 percent are fully vaccinated, according to the ministry.
 According to the ministry, around 200 cases of Covid-19 infections are being reported per week, several times below the more than 5,000 cases that were reported per week at the peak of the pandemic last year.