By Agnes Kiconco

KIU, Main Campus - The United States of America under the dose-sharing arrangement through the COVAX facility has donated 647,080 doses of the Moderna Vaccine to Uganda. They were ushered into the country on Monday, 6th September.

The donation is intended to aid and supplement the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination exercise in the country to hasten the reopening of schools and other learning institutions so as to quickly return to normalcy.

“The Moderna vaccine that we have received today will be strictly administered to the priority population groups who have not received their 1st dose of any COVID-19 vaccine,” said Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng while addressing media yesterday after the reception of the vaccines.

Health Minister Aceng also warned Ugandans not to mix the Moderna vaccine with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine that is currently being admnistered countrywide.

“The Moderna vaccine 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,” she warned.

In addition to this Moderna vaccine, Uganda will receive about 1.6 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine under the same dose-sharing arrangement before the end of September, a fact that was confirmed by Health Minister Aceng.

This will increase the number of vaccinated people in the country thus ensuring good health and added immunity to fight the deadly COVID-19.

“In the ongoing vaccination exercise, a total of 1,044,871 people have received the 1st dose of the vaccine while 431,655 have received their 2nd dose” said Aceng.

With Uganda's population currently standing at 47,438,348 as of Tuesday, September 7, 2021, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data, the largest population of Ugandans still remains unvaccinated.

Photo: Ministry of Health