Health Ministry launches first phase of yellow fever vaccination
The Ministry of Health has launched a five-day vaccination campaign against yellow fever in Lira City.
According to the Minister of Health,Dr Ruth Aceng, the campaign will be conducted in three phases.
She said that the first phase, which was launched in Lira would be conducted in the six districts of Kabale, Kabarole, Hoima, Arua, Lira, and Gulu.
“The phasing of this campaign has been dictated by the global shortage of the vaccine. However, we are lucky as a country that among the 55 million doses that were available globally, Uganda was allocated 13.4 million doses enough for phase one,” Aceng said.
Aceng was accompanied by several officials from the ministry including Dr Diana Atwine, the health ministry permanent secretary, and Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director of health services.
Uganda is a high-risk country for yellow fever transmission due to less than 10% of the population being immunised against it, with sporadic outbreaks occurring every three to five years.
The recent confirmed cases were reported near urban areas such as Kampala.
