“By 7am, we were giving people the health talk, by 8am we were giving them the forms to fill and by 9am the first person was getting the vaccine,” Kyabasinze says.
Large numbers of people have Monday flocked to Kololo independence grounds to receive their COVID19 jab on the first day of the mass vaccination against the virus as announced by the Ministry of Health.
According to Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, the Deputy Manager of the Malaria Control Programme in the Ministry of Health, the surging cases of COVID19 in the country have caused many people to pick interest in getting vaccinated and effected graced the Ministry of Health headquarters for a jab, something that prompted officials to opt for a larger space that could accommodate the numbers.
“We were vaccinating almost 3,000 people per day and that compound could not accommodate those numbers,” says Dr Kyabasinze.
The Health Ministry last week announced that that starting today May 31, COVID19 vaccination had been moved from its headquarters to Kololo independence grounds and was to conducted daily from 9:00am to 5:00pm.
At Kololo, the Ministry of Health mounted 40 vaccination points and by 6:30am on Monday morning, huge numbers of people had already thronged Kololo for their jab.
“By 7am, we were giving people the health talk, by 8am we were giving them the forms to fill and by 9am the first person was getting the vaccine,” Kyabasinze says.
Standing in long queues to each vaccination point, individuals who turned up would take approximately one minute to receive their jab. The 40 vaccination points Kyabasinze says enabled them not to keep the people waiting for long.
“In every one minute, we are vaccinating 40 people because we have 40 vaccination points and 40 nurses vaccinating one in a minute. We had this arena almost filled to capacity but look, it is now almost empty because the lines are moving fast,” he added.
In their communication last week, the Heath Ministry informed only health workers, security personnel, teachers, people aged above 50 years and those aged between 18-50 years with co-morbities to turn up for vaccination.
However, on Monday, Kyabasinze told reporters that at Kololo that they have opened up vaccination to all individuals above the age of 18 including expectant mothers.
“We have opened up vaccination to all groups of people – pregnant, breastfeeding and anybody above 18 years, they are free to come and get the vaccine,” Kyabasinze noted before adding that older people and those with other illnesses are more encouraged to get the jab.
Last week on 27th and 28th May, 2021, 1390 new cases were registered, according to the Ministry of Health with Kampala, Wakiso, Moroto, Tororo, Luwero, Kalungu, Mbarara, Kibuku and Iganga being the most affected districts.
Latest figures by the Ministry of Health indicate that results of COVID-19 tests on Saturday May 29, confirmed 524 new cases raising the country’s cumulative confirmed cases to 47,147.
While addressing the nation on Saturday on the COVID19 situation in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni, blamed the rising numbers of cases in these areas on negligence by the city dwellers that he said have ignored the recommended personal preventive measures against COVID-19.
The President said on Wednesday this week week, he is going to convene a full scale national COVID-19 task force, which will recommend several preventive measures to curb the further spread of the disease.
The president said the agreed-upon guidelines will be fully implemented to avoid choking the health system with many cases. He also added that while the numbers are increasing, the situation is still manageable.