Uganda will receive its first COVID-19 vaccine in March 2021, with Government saying the vulnerable groups considered first.
The revelation was made by the Country’s Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda during Friday’s plenary sitting at Parliament.
He was responding to a question posed by Elijah Okupa (Kasilo County) who tasked Government to explain Uganda’s preparedness to receive its vaccine.
“A number of countries are applying for COVID-19 vaccine, what level of preparedness does government have and when will first vaccine arrive? When will Ugandans receive the first dose in order to help us sort the problem of COVID-19,” Okupa said.
In response, Rugunda said, “Government has worked with international community especially to developing countries and 9 million doses have been ordered as when arrival will take place, tentative time that is expected is around March 2021. We are in a situation that is moving fast. Government is closely following this to get safe vaccines to the people of Uganda especially to the most vulnerable groups that COVID-19 is targeting.”
According to the World Health Organisation, there are three COVID-19 vaccines for which certain national regulatory authorities have authorized the use and although none have yet received WHO EUL/PQ authorization, nations like USA, United Kingdom, Germany have started immunizing their citizens with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, but no nation on Africa has laid its hands on the vaccine yet.
The other vaccines include; Moderna and AstraZeneca whose approvals are awaiting national approvals.
The development comes at the time the Ministry of Health reported results of COVID-19 tests done on 16 December 2020 confirm 628 new cases, bringing Uganda’s cumulative confirmed cases to 29,361, with total deaths standing at 228.
