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55% of priority groups aren’t fully-vaccinated
Chief of Defence Forces Gen Wilson Mbadi receives his first dose of Covid-19 vaccine during the launch of the exercise at Senior Officers’ Diagnositic Centre in Mbuya, Kampala, last year. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
The slow vaccine uptake has been blamed on poor grassroots mobilisation.
More than half of the 4.8 million priority population is not fully-vaccinated against Covid-19 despite being prioritised right from March 2021 when the vaccination started, the Health ministry statistics indicate.
The priority population, according to the ministry, includes health workers, teachers, security personnel, elderly persons of 50 years and above, and those below 50 years with comorbidities because they are at higher risk of contracting or developing severe Covid-19 illness.
The government is racing to inoculate the 4.8 million and then an overall 22 million Ugandans (all 18 years and above) to effectively contain the pandemic to guarantee the recovery of the economy. The vaccines have been proven by scientists as effective in preventing Covid-19 hospitalisation and deaths.
Statistics from the ministry indicate that as of April 20 this year, only 25 percent of the 3.3 million elderly persons who contributed the highest of the 3,596 Covid-19 deaths were fully vaccinated.
The low vaccination completion rate was also noted among security officers with only 29 percent of the 250,000 personnel fully jabbed.
Teachers, who were earlier ordered to get vaccinated or lose jobs, had only 43 percent of the 550,000 fully-vaccinated, signaling a relaxation of the government policy. Up to 70 percent of the 150,000 health workers are also fully-vaccinated.
But the ministry said some data on Covid-19 vaccination have not yet been submitted by districts, meaning the number of people who are vaccinated could be slightly higher.
Health officials and legislators have blamed the low uptake of vaccines on anti-vaxxer culture and Covid-19 deniers, poor grassroots mobilisation and demand by some political leaders for cash as a pre-condition to rally the population for the inoculation.
Dr Immaculate Ampaire, the deputy manager for the Immunisation programme at the Ministry of Health, told Daily Monitor yesterday that the introduction of mass vaccination is helping the country achieve the vaccination target.
“What is left is mainly the second dose for most of the groups. The issue has been mainly around access to vaccines,” Dr Ampaire said.
The April 20 statistics indicate that although the elderly performed poorly in getting fully-vaccinated, 80 percent have received at least the first dose. Ninety percent of the teachers and 60 percent of security officers have received a single shot, while health workers overshot the target with 127 percent receiving at least first dose, meaning the target was lower than the actual number of the workers.
There is no Covid-19 patient admitted to hospital as infection rates decline amid a rising number of people vaccinated and mild Omicron variant which is driving infections.
“We are calling upon Ugandans to care for their lives. We don’t know when the next wave will be. Lets adhere to preventive measures and go for vaccination,” Dr Daniel Kyabayinze, the Ministry of Health director of public health, said.
