More than 500,000 Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses have gone to waste due to the fact that it was not used by the ministry of Health within 30 days after being removed from the required cold chain of -80 degrees to remain potent.
Dr Daniel Kyabayinze, the incident commander of COVID-19 at the Ministry of Health stated that the vaccines that require very low temperatures like Moderna were taken to the Acholi region in anticipation that people would use them in vain.
He explained that by the time they thought of shifting them to the Kigezi region, it was too late for them to be used since the thirty days had elapsed.
Kyabayinze disclosed that the expired vaccines were a donation from the US government and received through the COVAX Facility. He blames the wastage on the anti-vaccination crusade by sections of people in northern Uganda.
So far, Uganda has received more than 32.6million doses of different COVID-19 vaccines and expects another 11 million doses by the end of March.
Currently, the number of new infections recorded per day is still high averaging 1,200 cases. According to results released today Thursday, 591 cases from 7,278 samples tested positive. This trend is however projected to decrease, according to Eng Abraham Muwanguzi, who heads science and technology management at National Planning Authority.
He said their model is showing that cases will be on the decrease in the next two weeks even when schools have reopened and restrictions on bars and the arts industry eased. He says this is explained by among others vaccination and the fact that hospitalization has remained low despite high cases.
