Uganda Secures Shs645Bn to Accelerate Covid Vaccination Exercise

The World Bank has injected $180.3 million into Uganda's Covid-19 vaccination program.

The funds, according to an official statement, will be used to acquire vaccines and relevant medical equipment and facilitate delivery.

“This upfront financing will help Uganda acquire vaccines from a range of sources to support the country’s objective to acquire a portfolio of vaccines under the right conditions, which include value-for-money, with appropriate regulatory approvals, and a swift delivery time,” said Mukami Kariuki, World Bank Country Manager for Uganda.

“The project will finance the deployment of the vaccines across the country to citizens and refugees free of cost.”

The statement indicates that $164.3 million of this funding is an International Development Association (IDA) grant which includes $27 million from the COVID-19 IDA Sub-window for host communities and refugees and a $16 million grant from the Global Financing Facility (GFF) to support continuity of essential health services and the rollout of COVID-19 tools.

"This new financing will support investments to bring immunization systems and service delivery capacity to the level required to successfully deliver COVID-19 vaccines at scale and strengthen pandemic preparedness,” said Julia Mensah, Senior Health Specialist and Task Team Leader.

“This way, it will assist Uganda to overcome some of the key response bottlenecks, facilitate the reopening of schools, and jumpstart socio-economic recovery. ”

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank Group has committed over $125 billion worldwide to fight the health, economic, and social impacts of the pandemic, the fastest and largest crisis response in its history.

As of December 18, Uganda had administered 7,888,584 doses of Covid vaccines, according to the health ministry.