Uganda’s Ministry of Health has received the first batch of 196,800 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The vaccine arrived on Thursday night at Entebbe International Airport.
According to the Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Ms. Diana Atwine , Uganda is set to receive 9 million doses of the government procured Johnson and Johnson vaccines in a bid to support the ongoing mass vaccination campaign across the country.
“Government has ordered a total of 9 million doses of J &J vaccines through the African Union ( AU)/ African vaccine Acquisition Trust ( AVAT) initiative at a tune of Shs290 million. These vaccines will be delivered in a phased manner to support the ongoing mass Covid-19 vaccination program,” she said.
“This vaccine will be administered as a single dose to the priority groups who have not received any Covid-19 vaccine to date,” She added.
Ms. Atwine further said the government has released a total of Shs120 billion to the Ministry and National Medical Stores (NMS) for the procurement and handling of Covid-19 vaccines.
“Shs55.8 billion was disbursed as a down payment to access the J&J vaccine, Shs50.4 billion has been released to procure 2,060,400 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine expected early December 2021 as part of the order of 17,829,400 doses that Uganda placed with COVAX facility,” she revealed.
Atwine added that they are in the process of transferring the remaining funds as the vaccines are availed to the country.
