Africa-Press – Uganda. Health rights advocates have asked the government to allow the Ministry of Health to integrate the COVID-19 vaccine into the routine immunization programme, rather than giving it specific days and programmes.
The project manager Saving Lives and Livelihoods, a project being implemented by Amref Health Africa in Uganda and founded by MasterCard Foundation, Mr Edward Tibawala said they have piloted the integration process in the areas of Kawempe, Bwaise, Kalerwe in Kampala it worked out as several people voluntarily came and got vaccinated against coronavirus despite the rising general hesitancy against the same.
“Integration is the way to go and it’s a good approach because when one brings their baby for polio vaccination, they can as well get the COVID-19 jab,” Mr Tibawala said in an interview.
He said Amref Health Africa has partnered with the Ministry of Health to conduct coronavirus campaign in the nine districts of the central region which include Wakiso, Kayunga, Kampala, Gomba, Butambala, Mpigi, Mukono,Buikwe and Buvuma, to have 70 percent of the population vaccinated against the disease and the project is worth $2 million.
However, he is dismayed by the people who are still hesitant be vaccinated against the virus, despite the fact that they accept having their children vaccinated against polio and other diseases.
He said Gomba and Butambala districts registered the highest number of people still hesitating to be vaccinated against Covid-19, of all the nine districts where the project has been implemented since November last year to date. However, about 80,000 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 under the three year project.
The ministry of Health in the Months of April and May reported a slight rise in COVID-19 Cases and this prompted some of the health rights organizations such as Amref to fully rejuvenate their vaccination campaign against the virus which the World Health Organization (WHO) in May this year announced that it was no longer a global health emergency.
The head of public health at the Ministry of Health, Dr Daniel Kyabayinza asked the community to take the vaccination campaigns seriously and get vaccinated or booster doses because the disease still exists and there is a slight rise in the cases being registered.
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