Uganda’s ministry of health is considering to initiate a law, that will make it mandatory for every person to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before accessing any public place.
According to the ministry, this will inspire people to overwhelmingly take part in the vaccination exercise against Covid-19. This followed low turn out at the mass vaccination exercise that was organised yesterday at Kololo independence grounds, Kampala city .
The vaccination exercise was conducted with an aim of inspiring high profile individuals in the country, including musicians, comedians together with their fans, to get vaccinated against the deadly disease. To the surprise of almost everyone, this arrangement was boycotted by many, even as health workers and vaccines were largely available.
It should ofcourse be remembered that the president of the Republic of Uganda Gen. Yoweri Museveni had asserted that he would totally cease lockdown of Uganda, if the country hits a vaccination target of 4.8 million Ugandans and return to normalcy like the period pre -Covid -19 period.
He however backtracked on this idea and emphasized that he would abandon the lockdown if the nation hits vaccination target of 7 million Ugandans, in order to return the state to normalcy.
Health ministry permanent secretary Dr Diana Atwiine said Sunday evening, that if restrictions like what the ministry is considering are not put in place, many Ugandans would continue taking vaccination for granted.
“An unvaccinated Ugandan is a risk to our lives. If you are not vaccinated, keep home at the moment. The law shall be passed. If u don’t want to take a jab, stay home because if you try to interact with others, you become a risk, you risk the lives of those you work with, if you are not vaccinated. So, if you make a decision that you won’t take a jab, then remain at home and stop inconviniencing other people by putting their lives in danger,” Said Dr. Atwine.
This comes at a time when some government agencies, including National Medical Stores (NMS) and others recently declared that with effect from October 18th, unvaccinated citizens would be denied entry into their premises, and even stopped from accessing public services.
This move was started by some Resident District Commissioners (RDC’s) from different parts of Uganda, who stopped unvaccinated people in their areas of jursdictuion from entering their offices, or even accessing their services.
Some concerned Ugandan citzens have also called upon government to take serious measures in order to get the majority of its citizens vaccinated, arguing that unvaccinated people put lives of others in danger and could also result in new and more dangerous Covid-19 strains.
For instance during an interview with Watchdog News website on September 29th, 2021, Ms. Mukimba Lydia, a third year student doing Bachelors of Arts in Education at Makerere University, advised the government to apply proportionate force to have its citizens take jabs.
“I think the government should involve the Police and force people to go for vaccination, and also establish fines for those who have adamantly refused to take jabs,” Said Ms. Lydia
At the moment, the country is said to have vaccinated close to 2.5 million of its citizens.
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