Uganda opts for Covid vaccines from elsewhere amid India crisis
Monday May 03 2021
A staff member of Uganda's Ministry of Health holds a dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine at Mulago Referral Hospital in Kampala, on the first day of a vaccination campaign on March 10, 2021. PHOTO | AFP
Kampala,
Uganda plans to import Covid-19 vaccines from elsewhere as a supplier in India is grappling with a surge in cases domestically, President Yoweri Museveni said on Saturday.
"We were getting the vaccine from India, but they are now struggling. We shall get the J and J (Johnson and Johnson) vaccine and also import another batch from Cuba. That's our strategy," he said in a televised address.
Uganda has received 964,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Covax initiative and the Indian government, and is expected to import another five million doses.
About 330,077 people in Uganda have so far received the first AstraZeneca jab, according to the health ministry.
"To be on the safe side let's immunise a minimum of five or seven million, then we can open up curfew," Mr Museveni said, urging the public to continue adhering to the prevention measures.
As of Saturday, Uganda's national count of Covid-19 cases reached 41,905, with 41,422 recoveries and 342 deaths.