ENTEBBE, UGANDA: Uganda has received 647,080 doses of Moderna vaccine from the US government adding to the long list of Covid-19 Vaccines donated to the country since March this year.
The contingent of the Moderna Covid vaccines that arrived yesterday at 6:30 pm aboard QATAR AIRWAYS were received by Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng and the US Ambassador to Uganda H.E Natalie Brown at Entebbe International Airport.
Ambassador Natalie E. Brown says the latest donation is part of the 110 million US Dollars worth of support offered towards Uganda’s response to COVID-19 since last year.
“The vaccine delivery is part of the US commitment to ending the COVID-19 pandemic as quickly as possible. These US donated COVID-19 vaccines will save Ugandan lives,” Brown noted.
She however cautions the public against believing in unverified information about the different vaccines. “Making an educated decision to take the vaccine will ensure that we are all safe,” she said.
Dr. Munir Safieldin, the UNICEF country representative says this is the second-largest batch received so far and added that this is a true spirit of sharing. “No one is safe until everyone is safe.”
Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the health minister lauded the US government for the donation. The donation was processed through COVAX facility, the global vaccine sharing arrangement.
She says the 647,080 Moderna vaccine doses will be administered to 300,000, target population who include teachers, health workers, security officers among others.
She says Uganda will receive 1.6 million doses of Pfizer vaccine by end of this month.
So far, the country has received 2,153,140 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 300,000 doses of Sinovac and 647,080 Moderna doses.
Dr. Aceng says 1.4 million people have been vaccinated. Of these, 431,655 have received their second dose. She explained further that the Vaccination Committee has advised against mixing the vaccines, and therefore people will take doses of the same vaccine.
She says the country is currently focused on vaccinating everyone above 18 years and maybe plans for buying Moderna booster shots will be considered.
Dr. Aceng says the country expects to get 27 million vaccine doses including Johnson and Johnson, through COVAX Facility and the African Union starting end of this month.
The US government had initially pledged to donate Pfizer vaccines to Uganda. It has however donated Moderna due to supply shortfalls in the US.
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