The Ministry of Education is concerned about the slow pace of vaccination of elderly persons.
While addressing the nation last month, President Museveni said he was aware that Covid-19 is not very lethal among children but the majority of the schools in Uganda are day schools which poses a risk to adults with whom the children live.
He said it’s very crucial that before schools reopen, the country must first vaccinate 4.8 million people in the vulnerable category including teachers support staff and all learners above the age of 18.
Dennis Mugimba, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Education says that although President Museveni announced the dates for reopening of tertiary schools, this could change in case the priority categories of people tagged on the reopening do not embrace the vaccination exercise.
According to Dr Mugimba, the vaccination rate for the elderly has remained at 10% for the past three weeks.
The government targets to vaccinate 550,000 teachers across the country and so far those who have received their first dose are 346,500, while those that have received the second jab are 115,000, including those who received the Johnson and Johnson.
Dr Alfred Driwale, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Vaccines and Immunization at the Ministry of Health said that the 700,000 Covid-19 doses of Sinovac from China will be specifically for teachers.
According to Ministry of Health records, by October 4, only 2.4 million Ugandans had been vaccinated.
When closing the learning institutions due to the pandemic President Museveni said that he cannot risk exposing the school-going population of about 15 million learners in the name of reopening schools before putting in control measures.
-URN
