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Govt clears Chinese to import Covid vaccine
A phial of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK. PHOTO | AFP
Government has cleared Chinese Community of Liao Shen Industrial Park to import 4,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine (Vero Cell) into the country for their own use.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Dr Ruth Jane Aceng, the Health minister, said the vaccine is still under research and is strictly for Chinese nationals.
“They wanted it for themselves, we said strictly limit it to yourselves, we do not want it to spread in the population. Uganda imports vaccines that are World Health Organisation prescribed, assessed for safety…, that is the vaccine we bring for the population and we have applied for it through GAVI,” Dr Aceng said.
In a December 3 letter to National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, Dr Aceng said this was in response to the Chinese request to track down infections and coronavirus among Chinese within the industrial park.
Asked how government would prevent the masses from accessing the said vaccine, Dr Aceng said the vaccine will come in small quantities and will be delivered straight to the Chinese embassy.
The letter further states that for proper transportation and use of the vaccine, Sinoafrica Medicines and Health Ltd was designated to procure the vaccine from China National Pharmaceutical Group Company Ltd or Sinovac Research and Development Co Ltd.
President Museveni supports the idea according to a November 26 letter from the office of senior presidential adviser on medical affairs at State House, Dr Joseph Okia to Dr David Nahamya, the executive director of National Drug Authority (NDA).
Mr Zhang Hao, the managing director of Liao Shen Industrial Park, said the vaccine is not for clinical trials but for the Chinese business community at the Liao Shen Industrial Park in Kapeeka to keep the Chinese investors safe.
“The vaccine is to be administered to strictly Chinese nationals in the Liao Shen Industrial Park upon seeking consent and whoever has registered to take the vaccine will cater for their own costs and risks. This will not affect the Ugandan government in anyway,” Mr Hao said yesterday in an interview.
He added: “This vaccine is under third phase clinical trial in China. However, the same is being used on emergency workers and travellers intending to leave China.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has revealed that if all goes as planned, Uganda will be able to access the Covid-19 vaccine next month.
During the handover of equipment towards Covid-19 response by the Private Sector Foundation, Uganda (PSFU) in partnership with the MasterCard to Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary in the Health ministry, said applications have already been made and they are currently in touch with Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) team in Geneva, Switzerland.
“We hope if all goes well in January, we will be able to access the vaccine. We will be able to cover 20 per cent in the first batch. The process is ongoing, the application is already made but also as a country, we have work to do,” Dr Atwine said yesterday. The first beneficiaries are frontline health workers.
Dr Atwine said there is need to carry out sensitisation because of negativity which can be a big hindrance. She added that there is need to work with regulators and know the real vaccine that is coming into the country.
“Study the side effects and we prepare because every vaccine has side effects, these vaccines have some protein in them and some people can react. So all those are preparations that we have to make to prepare the population. The process has already started,” Dr Atwine said.
The vaccine has been tried out in other countries such as the United States. Currently Uganda is in stage four of the pandemic.
