Hoima runs out of COVID-19 vaccine doses as virus second wave surges in Uganda

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A file photo taken on February 12, 2021 shows a vial containing the Covid-19 vaccine by AstraZeneca and a syringe displayed on a table in the pharmacy of the vaccination center (Photo by THOMAS KIENZLE / AFP)

Hoima, Uganda | URN | Hoima district has run short of the COVID-19 vaccine doses. In March, the health ministry delivered 5,230 doses to the district.

The vaccination points are at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital, Kigorobya Health Center IV, Bujumbura Health Center III, Buseruka Health Center III, Mparangasi Health Center III, Azur Health Center IV and Kabaale Health Center III among others.

Dr Lawrence Tumusiime, the Hoima District Health Officer (DHO) says that the district is running out of the COVID-19 vaccine with less than 400 doses remaining. He explains that more than 4,700 people have so far been vaccinated in the district and many more are embracing, yet the remaining doses are inadequate.

According to Dr Tumusiime, before the end of this week, the district will have run out of the vaccine.

He says some of the health facilities in the district including Hoima Regional Referral Hospital have run out of the vaccine yet they continue receiving a big number of people in need of vaccination.

Hoima is one of the districts that were hardly hit by the increasing number of COVID-19 patients following the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

The COVID-19 treatment unit at the regional referral hospital has handled 137 clients since the outbreak in the country with only four active cases remaining in the district that are being managed from their homes under the COVID-19 home care management.

John Aliguma, a resident of Kiryatete, a Hoima city suburb has expressed concern now that the district is running out of the vaccine yet the COVID-19 cases are surging in the country.

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Felix Rubongoya, a resident of Kaiso landing site says that since Hoima borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo and there is always an influx of the Congolese in the area, the health ministry should consider Hoima and avail more doses of the vaccine.

Uganda launched the COVID-19 vaccination program on March 10, 2021.

Last month, the Ministry of Health announced that the country had entered the second wave of COVID-19 infections. The government is now considering a second lockdown as a radical measure to break the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic that has so far killed 359 people, and left at least 521 fighting for their lives.