Africa-Press-Uganda The news about increased uptake of Covid-19 vaccines is encouraging, but there is still a huge disparity in vaccine access between urban and rural communities.
We should appreciate that the war against Covid-19 will be won through selective inoculation of the population, such as those in the city because the virus can take root in rural communities and cause serious havoc.
The highly vulnerable people are also majorly found in these rural areas, that is to say, the 3.3 million elderly that are part of the 4.8 million high risk groups that the Ministry of Health is racing to inoculate so as to reopen the economy.
For instance, the Health Minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, says vaccine coverage among the elderly (those 50 years and above) stands at 4.8 percent which is lower than 42.9 percent among health workers and 22.9 percent among security officers.
This is a big concern because the same minister said the previous week that the majority of Covid-19 deaths were reported in people who are 50 years and above.
Many experts have also asked government to develop new strategies of reaching some of these elderly at home, by moving door to door.
This strategy has worked successfully in the past to deliver polio immunisation among others and it can work to reach the elderly that the ministry is currently struggling to reach.
Officials at Covid-19 vaccination points in Kampala say they are majorly receiving young people, a precedence some experts warn is more of wastage of vaccines because the youngsters are less likely to develop severe disease or die even if they contract the virus.
This should be an important concern because of the warning that there is an imminent danger of Covid-19 third wave. We should make sure the elderly are reached, sensitised and inoculated timely so that in the eventually of a third wave, which is projected to be more severe, they are well protected to avoid overwhelming the health system and causing more death as it was the case at the peak of second wave around June and July of this year.
