Cultural leaders asked to mobilize locals for vaccination

Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kitgum district task force has called upon clan leaders to join hands in mobilizing the population to go for the mass covid-19 vaccination campaign.

The appeal follows the low uptake of the mass covid-19 vaccines in the district since the second phase of the vaccination was started in late March.

For the second phase, Kitgum district received 102,391 doses for the mass covid-19 vaccination exercise.

The vaccines included 941 doses of Sinovac, 48,890 doses of Johnson & Johnson, and 52,560 doses of Moderna.

However, William Komakech, the RDC of Kitgum district said the number of people going to get vaccinated is very slow.

Komakech reveals that due to the low turn up of people for vaccination, only 13,000 out of the 52,560 doses of the Moderna vaccine were used and 39,560 doses expired.

He notes that since the vaccination exercise started in Kitgum, only 65 percent have been vaccinated.

Dr. Henry Okello, the acting District Health Officer, notes that a fair number of people got vaccinated during the first phase of the mass vaccination in November 2021, but very few turned up during the second phase of the exercise.

Dr. Okello observes that people are no longer observing other measures put in place to control the spread of the virus such as wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing.

He encourages the population to continue going to get the vaccine, saying it is the only way that will save the population since many have abandoned the SOPs.

Dr. Okello asked the local clan leaders to help in mobilizing the locals to go for vaccination.

According to Dr. Okello, the locals duly obey clan leaders on all issues.

He cites the past when the district realized good results after involving clan leaders in handling issues affecting the community such as domestic violence.

By April 11, 2022, at least 19 million people in Uganda had gotten vaccinated for Covid-19 according to statistics from the Ministry of health.

The Ministry had set a target of vaccinating 22 million people for Covid-19 by end of March 2022.

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