Support Ugandan Scientists to Develop COVID-19 Vaccines, Says Oulanyah

Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah has urged the public to support Ugandan scientists who are trying to develop a vaccine in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Oulanyah also called upon citizens to turn a deaf ear on the negative campaigns on social media and embrace government’s vaccination campaigns.

"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 said. Oulanyah was on Tuesday in Gulu meeting NRM leaders from Acholi sub region, a campaign he kicked off on Monday with West Nile NRM leaders.

While addressing the media after the meeting, Oulanyah expressed displeasure with the low vaccine uptake in Acholi sub region which he attributed to the false and baseless propaganda on social media.

"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 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.