The Assistant District Health Officer of Mukono District, Dr. Isaac Ddumba has urged Ugandans to embrace the COVID-19 vaccination exercise and not to relax their guard following the COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures stipulated by the Ministry of Health.
Dr. Ddumba made the remarks on Tuesday while overseeing a vaccination drive organized by Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda at Century Bottling Company Plant in Namanve, Mukono District.
Over 100 employees and members of the neighboring community of Kiwanga received the COVID-19 vaccination in a one-day exercise.
“The people who are believing inaccurate and wrong information on social media are putting more lives at risk. COVID-19 is a serious disease, as we all know, and we must not play games with the solutions to it. Please urge everybody to go and get vaccinated wherever the government has provided access to the COVID-19 vaccine,” he said.
“Common sense tells us that prevention is better than a cure, so let’s all embrace the solutions we have been given to prevent COVID-19 spreading. Take the Vaccine, and then after that stay vigilant and continue with the fight. I applaud Coca-Cola for taking lead in encouraging employees and even the wider community to take the COVID-19 vaccine,” he added.
The Ministry of Health has announced a resurgence in reported infections, pointing to worries that the second wave of COVID-19 infections will be more devastating than before if not managed well.
“We must all remember our slogan: ‘It’s in your hands’ to avoid COVID-19. We pledge every day to be our Sister’s, our Brother’s and our Family’s Keepers, and this is one way of doing so. Getting the COVID-19 vaccine protects you and also protects your families,” said Melkamu Abebe General Manager at Coca-Cola Beverages Africa In Uganda.
“The decision to take the COVID-19 vaccine is voluntary but it is the responsible and the right thing to do for all of us. As a company we always do the right things so we must continue to encourage everybody to go and get vaccinated. After vaccination, we must continue to be vigilant in guarding against contracting COVID-19. We should be grateful to the government for providing this access and we should be responsive by taking it seriously,” he added.
Uganda received 964,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the Covax global sharing initiative and the Indian government in March. Currently, vaccinations are ongoing free of charge in a voluntary exercise across the country.
Vaccination is open to those aged 50 and above. In addition, those aged between 18 and 50 who have co-morbidities such as cancer, hypertension, diabetes, liver/heart/kidney disease and other chronic illnesses can also freely go for vaccination.
