The Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Dr Monica Musenero on Tuesday revealed plans for the country to begin manufacturing vaccines for Monkeypox.
The announcement was made during her appearance before the Presidential Affairs Committee in Parliament, where she provided an update on ongoing projects within her ministry, she assured the legislators that her team is more than ready and they are going to be helped by some expatriates.
“The teams are coming from Africa and from outside; we are going to work on a strategy to make sure we create diagnostics, vaccines, and drugs against Monkeypox, which is the next big thing that has already been declared a public health priority,” Dr Musenero stated.
The urgency of addressing Monkeypox has been underscored by recent outbreaks and the World Health Organization’s recommendation of existing vaccines, including MVA-BN, LC16, and ACAM2000. However, Dr. Musenero revealed that Uganda aims to develop its own solutions to better serve the local and regional populations.
Reflecting on past challenges, Dr. Musenero recalled the initial scepticism surrounding Uganda’s efforts to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines. “Although Ugandans described our plans to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines in Uganda as a waste of taxpayers’ money, we were able to raise Shs140 billion from some of the research undertaken under that project, like the sale of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) kits, and the World Health Organization was among my clients,” she said, highlighting the unexpected successes of the initiative.
She added; “During COVID-19, we started doing some research that very few people took seriously.” “So far, we have been able to generate Shs140 billion, and some of this money has come from outside through orders. Uganda is now a leader, supplying vital health resources for the continent. This is something we just started in 2020 during COVID-19. Science is something that can reposition our country very fast.”
Meanwhile, Dr Musenero’s revelation comes at a time when Uganda has 24 confirmed cases of Mpox patients since the declaration of the outbreak as per last update as of 22 September 2024.
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