How safe is COVID-19 vaccine?

Challenges in roll-out

Dr. Alfred Driwale the programme manager of Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunisation (UNEPI) told The Independent that by March 26, they had vaccinated about 200 people in 50 districts.

“Our goal is to vaccinate 49.6% of the population which is 22 million people,” he said.

He said they have had issues of reporting how the vaccination is going in other districts because of logistics and they end up lagging behind.

“Some districts didn’t have what is required and we had to send them new instructions,” he said.

According to him, the targeted people to be vaccinated first have taken up the vaccine. He said, however, the vaccination campaign had by March 26 not yet hit its desired target.

“We have had logistical challenges and another challenge is that the time the vaccine arrived, European Union countries were having issues with the vaccine,” he said.

The initial vaccination campaign targeted health workers, security personnel, teachers and people aged 70 years and above because they are at a high risk of contracting COVID-19 or getting the severe COVID-19 disease when infected.

According to the plan, the rest of population, people between 18 and 50 will be vaccinated last after exhausting the priorities and depending on availability of vaccine doses.

According to him, 10, 000 doses were dispatched to prisons and all of them have been used, 20,000 doses to police and 1500 have been vaccinated. He also says 11,276 health workers have been vaccinated so far.

He says that they had added Members of Parliament because the setting in which they work puts them at a high risk.  Up to 450 MPs of about 470 had been vaccinated by March 26. They had also added elderly people in the judiciary and retired judges. He says they have vaccinated 350 by March 26.

He said at that point they had 964,000 doses of vaccine left and the vaccination programme was continuing.

While vaccinating at Kisenyi Health Centre,  Dr Monica Musenero who is the presidential advisor on Epidemics, also said  the government needs to sensitise the public more about the efficacy of the vaccines.

Musenero who is part of the COVID-19 National Task Force said that the low turn up of health workers for the vaccination exercise is not for the programme.

“Being one of the frontline workers, I am going to use this opportunity and get vaccinated. I know this will help to serve as an example to the rest of the population that the vaccine is real and safe for them to build their immunity against the virus,” Musenero said.

There have been concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine which is being used in the country following its suspension in some countries after some of the beneficiaries complained of the after-effects like blood clots.

Minister appeals

While addressing journalists on the update of the vaccination on March 25^h, the Minister of Health, Dr Ruth Aceng, said people should not have worries about the safety of the vaccine because the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) reviewed all the available information and data and pronounced that AstraZeneca vaccine is safe to use.

She also said that the Ministry of Health is in the process of accrediting private health facilities to provide COVID-19 vaccination.

“The list of these facilities will be provided once an understanding has been reached,” she said.

The World Health Organisation has so far cleared four vaccines for emergency use, three being versions of the Oxford AstraZeneca versions made in UK, in the Republic of Korea, and at the Serum Institute of India. The other is the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine which has not been widely used by countries in Africa.

Aceng said that they ordered for 500,000 doses from China but they waiting for WHO to evaluate it and then it will be approved by National Drug Authority.

“The WHO advises that countries should consider continuing to roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine. I urge all Ugandans to go get vaccinated when their turn comes. No vaccine should be wasted as our lives depend on it,” she said.

“We are going to cascade this vaccination until the entire population is covered,” she added.

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