With 50 per cent of donated 964,000 doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines already used up, pressure is mounting on the government to get in more doses even after India suspended exports.

President Museveni in a televised address to the nation on May 1, said: “We were getting the [AstraZeneca Covid-19] vaccines from India but now they are stuck, they don’t have the vaccines. But right now, we are going to get the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) one [vaccines], and also [vaccines] from Cuba.”  The Health ministry a few weeks ago announced that Ugandans, who already received the first jab, are due for a second inoculation to complete the dosage and further boost their immunity.  The ministry launched the second round of the vaccination last Friday.

But a meeting of Uganda’s top government officials and scientists, which took place last Thursday, indicated that they have not yet confirmed an alternative place where the country will get more doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
“Well, the government [President Museveni] can speak as if an alternative has already been found (to give people assurance), but in a meeting we held yesterday, we have not yet confirmed where we shall get more doses from. We are still exploring,” the source said.

The J&J vaccine that President Museveni said the country will go for is a single-shot American-made on, which has already been approved by World Health Organisation (WHO).  Its storage temperature requirement of 2ºC to 8ºC is just like that of AstraZeneca (AZ), meaning Uganda can handle it. AZ has an efficacy of 63 per cent and J&J has an efficacy of 66 per cent.
We couldn’t determine whether any of the two vaccines from Cuba, named Abdala and Soberana 02, have already been approved by WHO or their efficacy.

Prof David Sserwadda, the head of the committee that the government established to advise on vaccine access and deployment, told this newspaper that they are majorly looking for AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccines from two other countries.
“AZ is manufactured in Europe (Netherlands and German), South Korea and India. So, we are planning to procure the vaccines from one of those countries,” Prof Sserwadda said.
The Health minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, said on May 5 that the country is expecting additional doses of AZ in June.

But she didn’t clarify on the exact quantity and source.
But ministry sources said they plan to acquire three million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine through Covax.
Early last year, China promised to give Uganda 300,000 doses of their vaccine. But Ministry of Health said it is still pending approval by National Drug Authority before being allowed into the country.