GULU,
If the power supply didn’t stabilize, he said, he would have to requisition fuel and start the generator.
“It keeps going on and off, like a disco light,” said the technician, Tony Elong. “This is our biggest problem. ... If I am not here and power is off for many hours, we are likely to lose the vaccines. It needs a timely response.”
Power failures are rampant in northern
Gulu, home to 325,000 people, has given out about 9,000 doses, with only 2,795 people fully vaccinated. The district had 30
In recent days,
A total of 11,978,840 doses — donations and purchases via the
As supply grows, officials are trying to whip up enthusiasm for vaccines in rural districts where many, citing safety fears, would rather wait.
Health systems in
In
Museveni said last week that officials face dismissal in rural areas, which now account for most of the country's 268 COVID-19 hospitalizations, if vaccines expire under their watch.
“We are literally dancing around," said Dr. Misaki Wayengera, head of a committee advising
The government rations doses to districts based on demand expectations, and supplies aren't replenished until officials account for doses they previously received.
As a result, shortages stemming from delays in reporting back vaccination data can occur.
“The demand is there,” said Dr.
“You can’t open the vial when the people are few. If people are few, you will be wasting the vaccine,” said Okello Labedo, a clinical officer in charge of the Awach health center, speaking through a frayed mask. “The turnout among the elderly is very poor. I think it is because of the distance.”
“They said, ‘If you come alone you cannot get the vaccine,’” Okello said. “I can’t go and force someone from his home to come here and get the vaccine.”
While it's “important for me to get the vaccine, tomorrow I might not be able to come back," he added.
“You might go there and you find that they also don’t have vaccines,” he said.
Uganda’s goal is to vaccinate 4.8 million of its most vulnerable people — including those age 50 and above — but so far 348,000 are fully vaccinated, according to official figures. And only 37% of the country’s 150,000 health care workers are fully vaccinated, highlighting the slow rollout that led authorities to begin vaccinating students and others in a bid to prevent the expiration of doses.
Authorities have warned schools won't reopen until all teachers and staff are fully vaccinated, a mandate that briefly caused lines at rural vaccination sites. Yet many came hoping there would be no doses, underscoring hesitancy in the aftermath of reports of rare blood clots in a small number of people getting the
“The pressure is now bringing them,” said
Alfred
“They put pressure on us, so today I came to get vaccinated,” he said. “I told my wife, ‘Let me first go.’ When the worst comes to the worst, she will take care of my children.”
That view was echoed by college student
That morning, after six men had signed consent forms, Apio informed them only five Sinovac doses were available.
One of the men quickly stood up and left.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission., source