Africa-Press – Uganda. The National Medical Stores (NMS) has said plans are underway to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to districts and that by next week, districts shall have received doses.
Ms Sheila Nduhukire, the spokesperson for NMS, said: “We are finalising distribution of personal protective equipment for health workers, then we will start the process of dispatching vaccines across the country. By next week, districts shall have received their doses.”
This comes two days after the Ministry received additional donation of 586,080 doses of vaccines, which comprised 286,080 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the Norwegian government and 300,000 doses of Sinovac from the Chinese governments. The vaccines from Norway will expire on September 30, according to the Ministry.
The State Minister for Health in charge of General Duties, Ms Anifa Kawooya, said they still have much to discuss before the rollout but that the vaccination will likely “resume next week.”
The information confirmed by the Ministry, the AstraZeneca vaccine is due to expire on September 30, meaning the country has around 2 months to exhaust the doses before expiry. But the 286,080 doses at hand are two few for the 902,992 people who are due for the second dose of vaccine. The Ministry has vaccinated a total of 1,143,763 people with either one or two doses.
Prof David Sserwadda, the head of scientists advising the government on vaccine access and deployment, said people who are due for second dose will not get Sinovac. “We don’t have any data on efficacy and side effects of mixing Sinovac with AstraZeneca at this point in time,” he said.
There has also been a general unease in the public following media reports that Norway has suspended vaccination use of AstraZeneca vaccine which they have donated to Uganda, but Prof Sserwadda, said they don’t have official information that Norway suspended the use of AstraZeneca.
Prof Sserwadda, however, admitted that some countries have restricted the use of AstraZeneca due to side effects but that Uganda cannot copy them because of limited options. Countries have reported issues of blood clots in recipients of Astrazeneca vaccine but the Ministry of Health said no such cases have been found in the country since the onset of vaccination on March 10.
