Yellow fever mass vaccination kicks off in Masaka

May 19, 2016

The exercise scheduled to run from May 19 to 22, has been launched in Masaka.

Government has kicked off yellow fever vaccination in the most affected districts.

The exercise scheduled to run from May 19 to 22, has been launched in Masaka.

Other districts where the exercise is running concurrently are Rukungiri and Kalangala.
 
The director general of health services, Dr. Ruth Aceng said they target over 600,000 people aged six months and above to be vaccinated against the disease.

Uganda received 714,579 doses of yellow fever vaccine, worth $643,765 or sh2.1bn, for an emergency reactive mass vaccination campaign in the affected districts.

The vaccines were provided by GAVI Alliance following a request from Uganda through the International Coordination Group on vaccines.

The group comprises of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

"The exercise is limited to residents in the three affected districts," Aceng told the New Vision in an interview.

Those vaccinated will also be availed with yellow fever cards to confirm that they were vaccinated.

Aceng noted that the national taskforce continues with an epidemiological assessment in the surrounding districts to evaluate the magnitude of the problem to identify other high risk areas for action.

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