Expired Covid 19 vaccines 

Three suspects including a local nurse ad two teachers attached to Primary Bright Light Primary School,  in Mukono have been arrested for selling and administering expired covid 19 jabs.

The trio was netted by police in Kayunga District with 138 doses of Pfizer, one doze of Sinopharm vaccine, and  39, 300 Shillings collected from the residents.

The suspects include; Anna Tumal, a nurse at Jonathan Medical Center in Kayunga, Rose Nakanyike, a teacher at Bright Light Primary School, Kisoga Town Council in Mukono district and Edward Ssemwogerere also a teacher and owner of the same school.

The suspects had lured a section of  unsuspecting locals to purchase each jab at 3000 Shillings, promising them that the jabs offer immunity from Covid 19.

Ssezibwa Regional Police Spokesperson Hellen Butoto says police received reports from locals about the trio administering jabs and trailed them.

“We managed to get them carrying on the exercise at Bright Light School where 17 residents and five pupils had been vaccinated with the PfizerBiontech vaccine. They have been returned to Kayunga district police station to support investigations,” Butoto said.

The government provides free COVID-19 vaccines at no cost to all national aged above 18 as a measure to provide strong protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death among nationals.

The vaccines are provided through designated health centres to the communities.

Expired Covid 19 vaccines

In January 2022, over 400,000 doses of Covid-19 expired, the vaccines went bad at a time when less than half of the targeted 22 million people have been vaccinated.

Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said the vaccines had been supplied to the northern part of Uganda, but were not used. The expired doses are mainly Moderna and a few doses of AstraZeneca.

The destruction of expired vaccines is usually handled by the National Drug Authority and the National Medical Stores.

In February,2022, the Parliament introduced a bill proposing to fine anyone refusing to take COVID-19 vaccines four million Ugandan shillings ($1,100) or sentence them to jail for six months.