Health officials in Mukono district are worried about the low turn up of children for Covid-19 vaccination.
Although the Ministries of Education and that of Health did not support vaccination of children at schools, they encouraged parents to take them at the designated centers to receive the jabs.
However, according to Dr. Stephen Mulindwa, only 10 percent of the school going children turned up before the vaccination campaign for last month. In this campaign the district was targeting to vaccinate at least over 10, 000 learners.
He notes that children who turned up are mainly those from within the community who abandoned school to engage in money making ventures before the age of eighteen.
Dr. Mulindwa notes that majority of children are in boarding schools and those in the day section have also not labored to turn up despite studying in congested schools which cannot maintain standard operating procedures yet covid-19 still exists in the district.
Dr. Mulindwa appeals to parents to take Children for the vaccination during holiday so as to protect themselves from contracting the virus. He notes that they have contacted the ministry for more vaccine supply to target holiday makers.
The government through the ministry of education banned Covid-19 vaccination in all schools across the country and advised parents who are interested in vaccinating their children to take them to hospitals and other designated centres.
During the recent presidential address on July 20, Yoweri Museveni noted that vaccination of Children aged between twelve to seventeen will start during the forthcoming holiday period but with the consent of their parents.
The Director of Fountain primary school in Mpatta Sub County in Mukono, Emmanuel Mbonye says it is still upon the government to sensitize parents about the importance of vaccinating children against covid-19.
“Some parents who got vaccinated received side effects so they fear that also their children may fall victims but those are the few but vaccination is necessary since school managements are finding hard times to encourage children especially in over populated schools to maintain SOPs especially maintaining social distance and wearing of masks.” Mbonye notes.
Jimmy Katende, a resident at Mukono says the government should not concentrate on sensitizing parents only children since they also have a negative attitude towards it, besides fearing the injection.
Another parent from Nyenje in Ggoma Division, Noah Kabuusu says schools should send off learners with consent forms for their parents to sign and then the government allows vaccination to take place in schools otherwise even during holiday they will focused at completing school packages instead of lining up for the vaccines at designated centers.
Generally, Mukono district has covered a cumulative figure of 372, 000 of the eligible population who turned up for the first dose and for the second dose 300, 000. Those who have turned up booster doses are 11, 000.
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