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KAMPALA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Uganda has ordered 18 million
doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca
and up to 40% of the shipments are expected to arrive in the
country by the end of March, the government said on Tuesday.
Uganda has so far reported 39,651 COVID-19 cases and 325
deaths - a much lower toll than in most countries due to what
experts attribute to years of experience battling other viral
outbreaks such as HIV AIDS and Ebola.
Its economy, however, is reeling from the impact of the
measures put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The vaccine shots will be procured from the Serum Institute
of India, the government said in a statement detailing cabinet
deliberations at a sitting held on Monday.
The first doses will be used to vaccinate people aged 50
years and above, people with underlying health conditions,
health workers, security personnel, teachers and other essential
social service providers, it said.
Each person will receive two doses separated by 28 days and
Uganda is purchasing the vaccine from the manufacturer at $7 per
dose, it said.
Uganda is also set to receive an extra 3.5 million doses of
the same vaccine, developed with Oxford University, from COVAX,
the scheme set up by WHO to facilitate vaccine access by poor
and middle-income countries, which will be received by early
next month, the government said.
Last week, Uganda announced it had begun conducting clinical
trials of a domestically developed drug to cure COVID-19
infections, after nearly a year of research by local scientists.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Duncan Miriri and
Alison Williams)
