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IRELAND IS TO donate 335,500 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Uganda, it has been announced.
This donation is in addition to the one million Covid-19 vaccines that Ireland has already committed to donate via Covax, which aims to guarantee fair and equitable vaccine access for every country in the world.
Along with this donation of vaccines to Uganda, Ireland is also donating all of the consumables needed to support the administration of 335,500 doses (plus a consumables contingency).
The consignment of vaccines will be completed later this week.
Ireland has been working closely with the Government of Uganda since the mid-90s and there are strong links between the countries.
Uganda’s Ministry of Health, supported by the Embassy of Ireland, UNICEF and WHO has put in place an ambitious Covid-19 response plan.
Ireland’s colleagues in Kampala are now poised and ready to receive and administer these doses to priority cohorts including health workers and educators, the Department of Health has said.
Announcing the donation, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said: “The donation represents the next step in Ireland’s continued commitment to vaccine solidarity. Universal and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines is a priority for Ireland.
“I wish to express my thanks to the HSE for the significant logistical planning to facilitate the delivery of these much needed doses to the people of Uganda.”
HSE CEO Paul Reid said the Executive is “privileged” to play a part in the donation of vaccines to Uganda.
“This donation, which includes all the consumables necessary to support the administration of 335,500 doses of AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria), has taken considerable logistical planning and we are grateful to all those involved in this initiative for their support, in achieving this,” Reid said.
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Im actually proud. Theres going to be a load of bellends here saying : uhh vax our own bla bla. But then they wont get vaxed.. im happy we are doing this! Saving lives and keeping peace. Go on Ireland!
@Todd: I agree with you, but I would be worried about vaccines being appropriated for profit by the powerful in Uganda. I hope this can be avoided. UNICEF are accepting donations to provide vaccines in developing countries where they are in short or extremely short supply.
@David A. Murray: yes I hope the powerful don’t make a profit over there and merely share them with their closest kin or kids’ teachers
Good! Share our positives with others. That’s the way to go.
Glad to see it happening.
Returned to post how Ugandans are getting on now, mid-October. Looks hopeful.
Uganda:
Fully vaccinated: 442,417 ppl; 0.94% of populat.
At least one dose: 2,405,147; that’s 5.11% of the population.
November 2021
Uganda:
Fully jabbed: 1,547,735 or 3.29% or the population.
Partly vaccinated: 4,473,212 or 9.50%.
Glad to see a difference being made.
The scenario reported above is bonkers & I really hope it’s inaccurate. Are the HSE actually sourcing & physically importing vaccines from all corners of Europe & further a field and then using a multitude of resources to then export it off to Uganda?
If this is the case, there is massive waste going on yet again. The provision of vaccines to countries in need should be dealt with at government level – not by the HSE. The government should provide money to UNICEF /WHO to assist Uganda …. & not get directly involved. UNICEF & WHO have their own staff who are experienced in such matters & HSE does not have the resources to waste like this. And who are Ireland’s colleagues in Uganda?
@Angela Lavin: wah wah wah
shut up. It will save lives in Uganda. Lots of EU countries have donated also.
@Angela Lavin: the world needs to be vaccinated to protect us all. This is not entirely selfless is it?
@Angela Lavin: There’s the right way, to do things, the wrong way and the Irish way, which is the wrong way, only slower.
How nice of them to only be donating the AstraZeneca, nothing to do with no one wanting it here. Dont see them donating the others.
@Siobhan Rosemary: 1.2M AZ administered here. Lol. I wouldn’t call that ‘no one wanting it here’. I’d have walked to Moscow to get an AZ a year ago.
@Paul Whitehead: well I had AstraZeneca as my first does and had an reaction and was told not to get the second. So you can have it if you want
@Paul Whitehead: have a look at the time line, people were not given the choice to what vaccine they were given nor did the majority know about the negative side effects.
@Siobhan Rosemary: how about it that uganda doesnt have fridges at -80 degrees to store pfizer vaccines…. Cop on
This is pretty cool to be fair
Good news story delighted that Ireland is giving spare vaccines to Uganda showing us to be a compassionate country and helping those in need. I got both az vaccines and no side effects.
Only a drop in the ocean.
@Scott Coulter: True enough, but COVAX makes all the difference for people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to get vaccines.
have your say