The Gulu district COVID-19 task force is stuck with 15,300 doses of AstraZeneca in the stores that will expire on November 30, 2021, due to the low uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.

Doctor Kenneth Cana, the acting district health officer, said “as of Tuesday, we have 15,300 doses of AstraZeneca batch two, which will expire on November 30, 2021, and 820 doses of AstraZeneca batch one, which will expire in December. Our worry is that these vaccines can expire as others are still in various vaccination sites. If we are to add it all, we still have close to 17,000 doses of vaccines that will expire in November.”

Cana noted that on November 2, 2021, Gulu district received 20,990 doses of Astrazeneca, 2,318 doses of Sinovac and 2,506 doses of Moderna from the health ministry, but Moderna and Sinovac got finished, except a few doses remaining in the vaccination centre.

He said only 11% of the 60%, the targeted population, got the first and second vaccinations and out of these, at least 5.5% have either got their first and second jabs, with 2% of older persons receiving their jabs.

“About 66% of teachers got their jabs, while health workers are at 92%, but we still have data backlog.

He noted that Gulu district has a cumulative of 418 registered cases of COVID-19, with one active case in Unyama sub-county and three death cases.

World Health Organisation uptake

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has come up with data on COVID-19 uptake, which ranks Acholi sub-region at the bottom at 45%, after Busoga sub-region with 42%. Acholi sub-region got a total of 185,254 doses of vaccination and out of these; 64,904 got their first jabs and 18,038 got second jabs.

According to WHO, vaccine uptake by region ranks Lango sub-region at the top with 111%, followed by Teso with 96%, Kigezi at 84%, Ankole, 79%, Kampala 75% and north-central at 64%. South central, West Nile and Bukedi tied at 60%, Toro 59%, Bunyoro 58%, Bugishu 51%, Karamoja 50%, Acholi with 45% and Busoga with 42%.

Cana attributed the low uptake of COVID-19 vaccines to reluctance by the public to get vaccinated due to myths about vaccination, long-distance to vaccination centres, among others.

Interventions undertaken

Cana said they hope that in the two remaining weeks, they will utilise the vaccine since they plan to move door-to-door to vaccinate people and also open vaccination centres in the parishes.

“We have drawn intensive outreach programmes, including churches, mosques and other public places, such as markets, bus parks, among others. We will also start vaccinating people who are willing, not based on who has a national identity card,” Cana said.

He said they are sensitising the public to go for COVID-19 vaccination, adherence to the standard operating procedures, providing prevention and infection control by providing protective equipment and training of health workers and village health team.

Others include conducting surveillance and laboratory testing for contact persons and also providing case management, especially home-based care.

However, Geoffrey Toopiny, the acting health officer Gulu city, said the uptake of vaccines in the city is good.

“We are doing outreach programs where we are vaccinating people at markets and open ground. A week ago, we partnered with Nile Breweries and vaccinated over 1,000 people in two days at Kaunda grounds,” he said.

Toopiny said at the beginning of this month, they vaccinated 1,618 people at Aywee Health Centre III and 932 at Layibi Techo Health Centre III.