COVID-19 Vaccine Drives Increase Coverage in Uganda ’s Eastern Region

August 16, 2022IntraHealth International’sRegional Health Integration to Enhance Services in Eastern Uganda (RHITES-E) project is partnering with the government of Uganda to offer COVID-19 vaccination drives that will provide more people with protection from the virus before a stockpile of the country’s vaccines expire at the end of August.Uganda will have to destroy about1.2 million vaccine doses by the end of August if they remain unused. Vaccine waste is a crucial issue for many countries, reaching as high as30% in some areas. In Uganda, health facilities often receive vaccines from the Uganda National Medical Stores, but due to insufficient demand, they are left unused and expire. So the Government of Uganda and USAID are working together to provide vaccines to more people through accelerated COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.In eastern Uganda, RHITES-E works with district COVID-19 task forces to plan these vaccination drives and create more demand for COVID-19 vaccines. So far, RHITES-E’s partner districts have received 469,426 doses (13% of total doses received countrywide) across three rounds of mass vaccinations. They have already administered 326,951 of these doses—a 69.6% overall uptake rate.“There was a time when vaccines were nearly expiring and it created a crisis. "One RHITES-E partner district, the Mbale District, initially struggled with low vaccine uptake.“There was a time when vaccines were nearly expiring and it created...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Uganda Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in Eastern Uganda (RHITES-East) Infectious Diseases COVID-19 Source Type: news