The government of Uganda through the ministry of Heath has revealed that its targeting to vaccinate 2.6 million people in the Central region during the mass Covid-19 vaccination exercise. The districts in question are Butambala, Gomba, Kayunga, Mpigi, Buikwe, Mukono and Wakiso.
This was revealed by the Director-General of Health Services – Dr. Henry Mwebesa at the launch of the mass Covid 19 vaccination in Mpigi District.
According to Dr. Mwebesa, the vaccination exercise targets everybody aged 18 years and above and that children aged 12 and above with complications like Asthma, sickle cells shall also be vaccinated.
“Those who got their first and second doses beyond 6 months ago, you need to come for a booster dose because we have realized that with time the strength of that vaccine reduces a bit, so you need to come and get more energy to add to those 2 doses,” Dr. Mwebesa said.
He appealed to the leaders across the districts to mobilize the people to go for the vaccination saying there are enough vaccines for everybody to get vaccinated.
The State Minister for Health in charge of General Duties, Anifa Kawooya asked the public to treat the exercise as a priority.
The Mpigi District Health Officer, Dr. Margaret Nannozi said that 47 percent of the population in the district have received the first dose, while 22 percent the second dose while 53 percent remain unvaccinated.
“We still have a backlog because many have been vaccinated but they are not entered onto the system, some are not yet vaccinated because of the intermittent vaccine supply which also explains the high percentages,” she said.
According to Dr. Nannozi, a total of 90,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines have been received and already disbursed to the various sub-counties and parishes and that mass vaccination has been rolled out with health workers reaching out to the population at the village level.
Nannozi appealed to the health ministry to speed up the process of elevating Mpigi Health centre IV to a district hospital saying the arrangement has taken 5 to 6 years without being actualized despite the great need and big population.
Dr. Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health appealed to the population and the leaders work jointly for the country to achieve the desire to have healthy people.
According to Dr. Atwine, the vaccines shall be sent to the respective villages saying the vaccination exercise seeks to reverse the trend of deaths resulting from Covid-19.
She warned the public against failure to complete the vaccination doses and those relying on false information circulating on social media saying the vaccines were proved safe for peoples’ health.