Uganda has faced a run out of Covid-19 vaccines and oxygen as the country hits with another wave of the pandemic.

  • Private and public medical facilities in the capital of Uganda’s Kampala and in towns across the country including the regional hub in Entebbe, Jinja, Soroti, Gulu, and Masaka have reported running out or having acute shortages of AstraZeneca vaccines and oxygen. Hospitals report they are no longer able to admit patients to intensive care.
  • Several vaccination centers and hospitals have suspended programs, throwing into doubt efforts to vaccinate 21.9 million high-risk people.
  • The World Health Organization’s representative to Uganda, Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam confirmed that as of Monday, the National Medical Stores, Uganda’s central distribution hub for all public health facilities, had run out of vaccines.
  • Uganda Medical Association (UMA) said the situation was terrible, as the country records week-on-week increases in new cases.
  • The WHO reported 1,735 confirmed cases on Sunday 13 June, compared with 60 cases on 13 Mayan increases of nearly 2,800%. Until Monday, the total number of confirmed cases stood at 60,250 with 423 deaths.
  • However, last week, the WHO warned of a third wave of the pandemic across Africa, with 90% of countries likely to miss a vaccination target of at least 10% of their populations by September.

Meanwhile, More than 3.6 million coronavirus cases have been recorded in 47 countries in the WHO’s Africa region. Eight countries, including Uganda, had seen a more than 30% rise in cases in the space of a week.