The Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Acheng has landed into trouble after the Parliamentary Committee on COVID-19 summoned her to explain circumstances under which 800 people were vaccinated with fake vaccines in Kampala.
We’ve learnt that the Minister and her team are expected to meet the legislators on Friday.
Abdu Katuntu, who is the leader of the committee said that they will commence investigations into how the people got be vaccinated with fake drugs after talking to health officials.
“We want to find out if a situation like that has happened, what has government done to that particular health unit where counterfeit vaccines were being injected to our people,” Katuntu told journalists.
The Members of Parliament have also urged President Museveni and Parliament to investigate the racket behind this scam and prosecute the suspects.
Charles Tebandeke, MP Bbale county said that Parliament expects the president to come out with a louder voice on the issue.
“The president should issue an ultimatum to all ministries, including the Uganda National Bureau of Standards to take action, we want to know how these vaccines arrived here in the first place,” Tebandeke said.
The legislators said that they are worried that the revelation regarding the fake vaccines might affect the progress of fighting Covid-19 in the country.
Relatedly, the Director of Public Health at the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Dr Daniel Okello said that they have also kicked off investigations into the matter.
“We want to find out, where did this vaccine come from? How did it get here?”
Nile Post understands that at least 800 people and other clients from several companies in Kampala received fake Covid-19 vaccines last month.
Dr Warren Namara, the head of the State House Health Monitoring Unit, said at a press conference that two nurses were arrested from Nakawa in Kampala on fake vaccine accusations, and the doctor is still on the run.
The incident is said to have happened between June 15, to June 17, 2021.
For a layman, differentiating between the actual and fake drug could be hard and health workers have urged Ugandans to look out for only verified sites to receive their Covid-19 vaccine jabs.
