The
government of Uganda has a funding shortfall of 515 billion Shillings to
procure nine million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the Serum Institute of
India.
A total of over twenty one million vaccines are expected to arrive in the
country between this week and next year.
Of these, three million vaccines are donations from the COVAX facility, India and the People’s Republic of China.
The
remaining 18 million vaccine doses are going to be procured from the COVAX
facility and the Serum Institute of India.
According to the health ministry, the government has allocated 582 billion
Shillings towards procuring the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility.
This
means that while Uganda has ordered vaccines from the Serum Institute of India,
no money has been paid.
To be able to vaccinate all eligible Ugandans, the country needs 1 trillion
Shillings for the procurement of vaccines, transport and other logistics.
But Prof Freddie Ssengooba, a public health financial analyst says that if the government can vaccinate at least 80 per cent of the population, the remaining 20 per cent would be protected by default. Mr.Ssengoba adds…
Dr. Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary of the health ministry says that the government is looking for external funding. END.
