The Gulu district has returned 100,000 Moderna Covid-19 vaccination shots.

Gulu district health officials have returned to the Ministry of Health a total of 108,220 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccination. The vaccines were among 166,586 Moderna doses delivered to the area early last month to support the region’s large COVID-19 vaccination program.

Assistant Gulu District Health Officer Yoweri Idiba told a quarterly performance review meeting on the Expanded Programme on Immunization for Gulu district on Wednesday at the Gulu District Council Hall that a few people embraced the vaccines, leaving them idle, despite the fact that they had a short shelf life.

Moderna COVID19 vaccine multiple-dose vials can be kept frozen between -50o and -15oC for up to 30 days before use, or refrigerated between 2° and 8°C for up to 30 days. Moderna vaccine vials should be thrown 12 hours after the initial puncture, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

However, according to Idiba, demand for Moderna was limited, and they lacked the necessary storage facilities. He claims, however, that they are retaining fewer than 7,000 doses of the vaccine in the area to prepare for the second vaccination, which will only be given to those who had the first vaccination.

In late November, the health ministry began a major COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the Acholi sub-region, targeting 916,062 people. Health officials in Gulu district and Gulu city aimed to vaccinate 165,192 people.

Despite the fact that the major COVID-19 immunization campaign served to enhance vaccine coverage, Idiba claims that the established targets were not fulfilled. In Gulu district, for example, only 33,386 individuals were vaccinated out of a target of 107,472 people, while 31,118 people were vaccinated out of a target of 58,440 people in Gulu city.

He, on the other hand, attributes this to misconceptions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine circulated on social media and a lack of mobilization.

He also stated that COVID-19 cases in the district have begun to rise in both the district and the city, and that he believes the cases are linked to the new Omicron variety. According to Idiba’s statistics, the district now has 22 active COVID-19 cases among health workers (six in Patiko sub-county and 16 in Unyama sub-county).

With the economy due to reopen in January next year, Gulu Resident District Commissioner Stephen Odong Latek urged the public to adopt COVID-19 immunization. Vaccination cards, he believes, will most certainly become a requirement for accessing key services and government offices in the country.

Only 7,223 COVID-19 vaccines are currently in stock at the district health department, with 7,000 Moderna and 223 Sinovac vaccines. In an interview with Uganda Radio Network, William Onyai, Gulu District Health Educator, stated that the remaining vaccines will be distributed.

Since March of last year, the Gulu area has recorded a total of 9,059 COVID-19 cases, with 219 deaths. The Intensive Care Units at St Mary’s Hospital Lacor and Gulu Regional Referral Hospital treated a total of 2,049 patients.