“If we sat in the hospital waiting for them to come to us, we would not have been as successful!” -Kasakya Irene (Medical Clinical Officer, UPDF)

Amref Uganda began the “Africa Vaccine Access Initiative” in December 2021 with a goal of having 1,600,000 people vaccinated. The ongoing initiative is bringing awareness and fighting misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine, increasing access by hosting pop-ups in the community, and training health workers to support the new vaccination sites.

Working in eight districts, Mubende, Mityana, Kiboga, Kywankwanzi, Nakaseke, Nakasongola, Luwero and Kasandha, #TeamAmrefUganda, has so far vaccinated nearly 480,000 people, 30% of the goal!

The Uganda team states that keys to success are collaborating with other community-based interventions, working with health care networks in the districts, helping with the logistics of transporting vaccines, and data collection and reporting. These efforts are showing a lot of promise.

“Many pregnant women have heard different myths about the vaccine, but I have never had any challenge since getting mine, nor have we had any patients come in about it. I advise pregnant women to get their vaccine.” -Nakabonge Procy (Resident, Mudende District)

Women have proven to be a great entry point for getting accurate vaccine information out there and easing concerns among the people, especially in home-based care training. Word-of-mouth is also a great way to create comfort and reduce vaccine hesitancy in the districts.

Though challenges such as limited PPE stock and sample collection tools occasionally impact implementation, we are still off to a great start with bringing vaccinations for all in Africa.

We look forward to bringing you updates on this and our other COVID-19 initiatives throughout the continent. Together we can #EndVaccineInjustice.