KAMPALA, Uganda– Uganda has launched a national yellow fever vaccination campaign to help protect its population against the mosquito-borne disease that has long posed a threat.
By the end of April, Ugandan authorities had vaccinated 12.2 million of the targeted 14 million people, said Dr. Michael Baganizi, an official in charge of immunization at the Ministry of Health.
Uganda will now require everyone traveling to and from the country to have a yellow fever vaccination card as an international health standard, Baganizi said.
Ugandan authorities hope the requirement will force more people to get vaccinated against yellow fever amid a general atmosphere of vaccine hesitancy that worries health care providers in the East African nation.
The single-dose vaccine has been offered free of charge to Ugandans between the ages of 1 and 60. Vaccination centers in the capital Kampala and elsewhere included schools, universities, hospitals and local government units.
Before this, Ugandans used to pay to get vaccinated against yellow fever at private clinics, for the equivalent of $27.
Uganda, with 45 million inhabitants, is one of 27 countries on the African continent classified as high risk for yellow fever outbreaks. According to the World Health Organization, around 200,000 cases and 30,000 deaths occur worldwide due to the disease each year.
The most recent outbreak in Uganda was reported earlier this year in the central districts of Buikwe and Buvuma.
Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Most infections are asymptomatic. Symptoms may include fever, muscle pain, headache, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting, according to the WHO.
Uganda’s vaccination initiative is part of a global strategy launched in 2017 by the WHO and partners such as the UN children’s agency to eliminate yellow fever by 2026. The goal is to protect nearly a billion people in Africa and America.
A mid-term evaluation of that strategy, the results of which were published last year, found that 185 million people in high-risk African countries had been vaccinated by August 2022.
In Uganda, most people get vaccinated against yellow fever when traveling to countries like South Africa, which require proof of vaccination upon arrival.
James Odite, a nurse who works at a private hospital designated as a vaccination center in a suburb of the capital, Kampala, told the AP that hundreds of doses remained unused after the yellow fever vaccination campaign closed. They will be used in a future massive campaign.
Among the issues raised by vaccine-hesitant people was the question of whether “the government wants to give them expired vaccines,” Odite said.
Baganizi, the immunization official, said the Ugandan government has invested in community “sensitization” sessions during which officials tell people that vaccines save lives.
___
The Associated Press receives financial support for bill’s global health and development coverage in Africa & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropic organizations, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
