Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng has revealed that the first batch of at least 864,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in Uganda on March 5th, 2021.
Dr. Aceng said that vaccination will then commence on March 10th, 2021.
Dr. Aceng made these announcements in a press conference held at the Ministry of Health head offices on Tuesday afternoon.
The announcement comes almost a year after Uganda recorded its first Covid-19 cases.
Dr. Aceng said that in the context of global pressure on vaccine stocks, priority persons to be vaccinated is going to guided by the occupational risks of infection, risk of developing severe disease, death from COVID-19 and population characteristics like age, gender and geographical location.
“Uganda targets to vaccinate 49.6% of the population which is about 21,936,011 people, in a phased manner. Each phase is planned to cover 20% of the population which is about 4,387,202 people. The eligible population lies in the age range of 18 years and above,” Dr. Aceng said.
The health minister said that the first phase of vaccination will focus on health workers from all public, private not for profit and private for private health centres that are estimated to be around 150,000 across the country.
” We shall also on Security personnel from the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), Police and Prisons and these are estimated to be 250, 000,” Dr. Aceng said. “We shall also focus on teachers from both public and private among other essential social service providers which are estimated to be around 550,000.”
The first phase of vaccination will also include persons from the age of 50 years and above and these are estimated to be at 3,348500. They will also vaccinate persons with underlying health conditions but aged below 50 years (estimated at 500,000).
