The latest study by Makerere University has disclosed that healthcare workers were a trustable source of information for the COVID-19 vaccine.

The study participants trusted healthcare workers more at 90%, this is because the participants interact more with health practitioners on day to day when they visit their clinics and therefore they can share their concerns but they trusted government officials by 77%.

The study titled; “COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptability among People Living with HIV (PLWH) in Uganda” was conducted between January and April this year.

Speaking while releasing the study findings Richard Muhindo a research Fellow at IDI called for a need for the Ministry of Health to develop messages that address the concerns of PLWH about vaccine use.

 “The ministry of health needs to train healthcare workers so that they can be able to deliver facts on the vaccine, build the confidence in people and provide consistent information regarding vaccination and also booster doses,’’ he said.

Barbara Castelnuovo And Stephen Okodoi

The study disclosed that most of the people interviewed felt that the vaccines work, are safer to be used, and are of benefit to them.

The study revealed that 71.1% of participants said all Covid-19 vaccines in Uganda are safer for PLWH, 83.4% said all vaccines reduce severe disease and death and 81.9% said it is beneficial to vaccinate all PLWH.

The study participants were from Kampala Capital City Authority health facilities including Kisenyi, Komamboga, Kiswa, Kawala, Kitebi , Kasangati and Kitebi . Doctors, nurses, local leaders, and Village Health Teams were also interviewed.

Different data shows that having HIV increases one’s risk of suffering from severe Covid-19 virus.

PLWH aged between 36-50 years were less willing to accept vaccination but reported similar vaccination uptake with PLWH aged between 18-24 years.

Dr. Andrew Kambugu the Executive Director of IDI called for the need to do some quick education intervention including the health workers who sometimes do not have the right information.

The vaccine acceptability was high at 72.7% among unvaccinated PLWH.

The reluctance of people to receive recommended vaccination was identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the top ten threats to global health in 2019.