By Paul Adude
The minister of health Dr Jane Ruth Aceng has said the 647,080 doses of the Moderna vaccine received on Monday will be strictly administered to the priority population groups who have not received their 1st dose of any COVID-19 vaccine.
“Moderna is administered in 2 doses, 4 weeks apart. It should be noted that the Moderna vaccine cannot be mixed with any other COVID-19 vaccine currently being rolled out in the country. This is consistent with guidance received from the Vaccine Advisory Committee whereby Uganda has not received recommendation for any ‘mix-and-match’ of the vaccine” she said.
Ms Aceng made the remarks while addressing press at Entebbe International Airport after receiving the doses from the Government of the United States of America under the dose sharing arrangement through the COVAX Facility.
“In addition to this donation, Uganda will receive 1.6 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine under the same dose sharing arrangement before the end of September.
To-date, Uganda has received a total of 2,153,140 doses of the AstraZeneca and 300,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine and now 647,080 of Moderna to support the mass COVID-19 vaccination exercise” she said.
Dr Aceng said so far, 1,044,871 people have been vacinated with the 1st dose while 431,655 have received their 2nd dose.
“The expansion of the COVID-19 vaccines in the country is a step forward in minimizing the spread of COVID-19 and a guide in opening up the economy,” she said.
The US Ambassador to Uganda, Ms Natalie E Brown who received the vaccines said the donated vaccine doses are part of the United states pledge to initially with life saving Covid 19 vaccines.
