Africa-Press – Uganda. Buganda Kingdom has embarked on the second phase of mass Covid-19 vaccination, saying although the number of patients in hospitals has reduced, the pandemic still exists.
Speaking to the media during the first day of the exercise in Kampala yesterday, the kingdom spokesperson, Mr Noah Kiyimba, said the four-day exercise is supported by the Ministry of Health.
“We have received 50,000 doses from the ministry and that’s the number of people we expect to turn up because last time we were forced to stop the exercise due to the overwhelming numbers yet the doses were only 8,000,” he said.
Mr Kiyimba said the ministry has provided a team of medical personnel to administer the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccine doses.
“We expect to have a big turn-out because we have been campaigning for this exercise for about one month starting from the village level to the divisions and counties,” he said.
Mr Kiyimba tasked the country to double its efforts of vaccination and also continue observing the standard operating procedures.
“We have decided to have the vaccination exercise within our premises because we know that majority of the population in central region are working. We encourage all Ugandans who fall under the categories of people who are supposed to be vaccinated to come and participate in this exercise,” he appealed.
The Buganda attorney general, Mr Christopher Bwanika, said supporting health service delivery in the country is one of the kingdom’s responsibility.
Mr Bwanika said: “We have come up with this campaign because we have realised that the pandemic has affected the entire country especially the economy and education sector.”
He added: “We started with the fight against HIV/Aids and blood donation which we are ongoing. Even in the coming Kabaka Birthday Run, the theme is under the fight against HIV,” he said.
Covid-19 status in the country
The mass vaccination exercise comes at time when the Ministry of Health has announced that there is no Covid-19 patient admitted to hospital in the country.
Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Health ministry spokesperson, however, told Daily Monitor that the risk of Covid-19 is still high.
“[There are] no admissions at the moment. [But] we still have some people testing positive despite a very negligible positivity rate. We need to remain vigilant owing to the fact that some countries still have lockdowns due to an upsurge of Covid-19 cases,” he said.
The latest statistics from the Ministry of Health indicate that between April 12 and April 14, a total of 27 cases were reported and the average test positivity rate was at 0.3 percent, which means the pandemic is under control. Any positivity rate under 5 percent signifies control of the pandemic, according to scientists.
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