Africa-Press-Uganda posted by
Faridah N Kulumba
Uganda will receive COVID-19 from different sources including China in a bid to vaccinate up to 60 percent of the population to attain hard immunity.
The government insists on procuring the AstraZeneca vaccine despite reports which says that the vaccines have low levels of efficiency against some new strains of COVID-19.
This was revealed by the minister of health Jane Ruth Aceng while addressing the journalists on the current situation of COVID-19 in Uganda, who said that the vaccine is still efficient against the current strains in Uganda, and therefore it can not be ignored.
According to ministry of health this will be done in three phases, with each phase covering 20 percent of the population.
“African Union has secured six hundred million dozes of the Covid-19 vaccine, and this includes the AstraZeneca vaccine, vaccine from Johnsons and Johnsons for the African continent. Under this arrangement, Uganda has been allocated 9155894 dozes.” Aceng said.
It is now 11 months since Uganda reported the first COVID -19 patient, and since September 2020 the outbreak has evolved and transitioned to phase 4.
This is a phase of diffuse and sustained intense community transmission with multiple clusters in some districts and population sub groups.
To date, Uganda has recorded 39,911 COVID-19 cases, 328 deaths ,and 14,470 recoveries.
Why is Uganda opting for AstraZeneca vaccine?
Dr Aceng explained that they are opting for Astrazeneca, because the vaccine technology has been tested for over a century, and that vaccine fridges in Uganda’s health facilities meet the storage temperature requirement of 2 to 8 degrees.
She added that it is for the same reason that the China’s vaccine is being considered for use in Uganda.
According to the scientists, Uganda has different strains of COVID-19 but not the ones in South Africa.
“What is important is to ensure we reduce transmission by following Standard Operating Procedures.” Aceng added.
Surprisingly the month of January and February 2021 continue to reflect a drop in the number of confirmed cases.
Why the drop in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases if there is different strains?
According to ministry of health they attributed the falling confirmed COVID-19 cases to the fact that this phenomenon characterizing peaking of an epidemic, is not unique to Uganda, and that Ugandan scientists accurately predicted its occurrences after January 2021.
“The falling numbers therefore represent a punctuation consistent with our seasonal variation patterns that is likely to be followed by emergency of what we shall consider as a second wave.” Dr Aceng
