Uganda to receive first batch of Covid-19 vaccine on Friday

Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, codenamed AZD1222, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca given by intramuscular injection, using as a vector the modified chimpanzee adenovirus ChAdOx1 (PHOTO/File).

KAMPALA – Uganda will on Friday, March 5 receive its first batch of the coronavirus vaccine.

The 3.55 million doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine are part of the donation that Uganda is getting from the World Health Organization (WHO) COVAX facility.

COVAX is a global scheme that was put in place to procure and distribute COVID vaccines to poor countries.

Vaccination will start on March 10, 2021. According to Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng, the arrival of the initial 864,000 doses of the #AstraZeneca vaccine will be on March 5. Govt targets to vaccinate 49.6% of total popn (21.9m) with each phase covering 4.3m

Phase 1 will cover health workers (public and private) est. 150,000, security personnel (about 250,000), teachers (public and private) & other essential workers est. 550,000, persons aged above 50 years and above (about 3.3m) and persons with underlying conditions (about 500,000).