The Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah, has urged the people of Acholi sub-region and the rest of the country to positively respond to the government’s call to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the NRM consultative meeting with Acholi NRM leaders in Gulu City, Oulanyah advised the public to detest the negative and baseless stereotypes being associated with COVID-19 vaccines, saying the vaccines are the most effective way to fight the pandemic, which has ravaged nations.
“In this region, I have heard messages; some of them really unfortunate and misleading and I want to call upon my people to respond to this call to be vaccinated. Personally, I have taken two shots of AstraZeneca. This is the same vaccine being taken by the citizens in the US, UK, Europe and others,” Oulanyah said.
“The vaccines may not be able to stop you from contracting the virus but they will cut down on the severity, it will not kill you because you are protected.”
Last week, the Ministry of Health launched the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Acholi Region aimed at increasing the uptake of vaccination among the population aged 18 years and above. This follows concerns of low uptake in the sub region compared to other regions in the country.
The Speaker has attributed this low uptake of vaccines in the sub region to false messages associated with the vaccine that is being spread on social media.
“I am calling upon my people to ignore all those other messages on social media and respond to the call to get vaccinated. Vaccination will be crucial in opening up schools, businesses, and other sectors of the economy,” he said.
“The responses in other districts are hitting beyond 90% but here [in Acholi] because of the negative campaigns, people are beginning to roll back and yet these vaccines expire and if the portion given to us expires then we are done.”
Oulanyah further called upon the public to support the government’s effort to develop its own COVID-19 vaccine.
“As a country, we have trained scientists and virologists who can do these things. Why should we wait for other countries to develop and then we get donations when we have the capacity to do our own? Let us support our scientists,” Oulanyah added.
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations in partnership with other public health institutions is in advanced stages of developing its own vaccine.
Oulanyah asked the public to support and inspire the scientists behind this project.
The Speaker will today Wednesday, 1 December 2021 wind up his consultative meetings in Lira District where he will, in his capacity as the NRM National Vice Chairperson for Northern Uganda, meet with the NRM leaders to build synergies for the growth of the party and enhance service delivery.
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