President Yoweri Museveni and First Lady Janet Museveni have received their Covid-19 vaccine jabs.
The duo was vaccinated on Saturday at Nakasero State House.
“I wish to congratulate H.E the President @KagutaMuseveni and the First Lady, Maama @JanetMuseveni who have just been vaccinated against COVID-19 with the AstraZeneca vaccine. I urge the population to embrace this vaccine as it is safe and effective,” Health Minister Dr Ruth Aceng tweeted.
On 10th March, Uganda rolled out the first phase of a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination.
The country received a second batch of 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 7 from the government of India as a donation, to add onto the initial acquisition of 864,000 doses through the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access (Covax) facility on March 5.
Dr Aceng was the first to receive the jab. She said that because of the high demand of the vaccine worldwide, majority of Ugandans will have to wait longer to receive the jabs as more doses arrive in small batches.
Recently during his State of the nation address, President Museveni said he was yet to take the Coronavirus vaccine jab despite the vaccination kicking off because he thinks health workers are the most vulnerable and should take the jab first.
“I have not yet been vaccinated, and neither has Janet. We wanted to start with the high-risk people – the ones working in hospitals,” he said, noting that Uganda is also working on its own vaccine.
On the other hand, the President vowed to to sue Daily Monitor, one of the leading newspapers in Uganda for claiming that he (Museveni)and his family secretly vaccinated themselves against Covid-19.
In their article titled ‘Museveni ‘inner circle’ got Covid jabs- US Paper’, Daily Monitor quoting an American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal reported that “Members of President Yoweri Museveni’s inner circle were offered vaccines from China state-owned drug maker Sinopharm.”
“In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte’s security detail got Covid-19 vaccines last year before their use was authorized. And in Uganda, members of President Yoweri Museveni’s inner circle were offered vaccines. In Uganda as in Peru, the vaccines were from China state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm,” Monitor said quoting WSJ.
Responding to allegations, Museveni said the local newspaper will have to cough some good money in his favour for defamation.
“In the mean time, I’m going to get from Daily Monitor money for my NRM party because they said I had hidden and vaccinated myself secretly, with my wife… Haaaa they are going to get me some money,” Museveni who is also the National Chairperson for ruling party NRM said during his Women’s day celebrations speech.
He added that he has already dragged Daily Monitor to the Courts of Law and he will only forgive them if they apologize to him.
” I have already put the case in court, Monitor I’m going to make you bankrupt unless they apologize and lie down and say sorry sorry. If they don’t I really going to go for them. That I’m a selfish man who hid with my wife we injected ourselves when other Ugandans were at risk. That’s not Sabalwanyi, Sabalwanyi doesn’t behave like that.”
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