Summary:
- Uganda has rolled out a nationwide yellow fever vaccination campaign to help safeguard its population against the mosquito-borne disease that has long posed a threat.
KAMPALA, (AP) — Uganda has rolled out a nationwide yellow fever vaccination campaign to help safeguard 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 14 million people targeted, said Dr Michael Baganizi, an official in charge of immunisation at the health ministry.
Uganda will now require everyone travelling to and from the country to have a yellow fever vaccination card as an international health regulation, Baganizi said.
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Ugandan authorities hope the requirement will compel more people to get the yellow fever shot amid a general atmosphere of vaccine hesitancy that worries healthcare 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 centres in the capital, Kampala, and elsewhere included schools, universities, hospitals and local government units.
Before this, Ugandans usually paid to get the yellow fever shot at private clinics, for the equivalent of $27.
Uganda, with 45 million people, is one of 27 countries on the African continent classified as at high risk for yellow fever outbreaks. According to the World Health Organization, there are about 200,000 cases and 30,000 deaths globally each year from the disease.
Uganda’s most recent outbreak 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. The majority of infections are asymptomatic. Symptoms can 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 almost one billion people in Africa and the Americas.
