Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni [Photo courtesy: Anadolu Agency]
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni says he is yet to be vaccinated because he is quite careful and well protected by the system.
This is even as the country began mass vaccination against Covid-19 using the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Presidents across the African continent have been receiving the jabs publicly, to counter scepticism about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
Museveni says dozens of his staff have contracted the virus but he is still safe. He said, “The reason I’ve not been vaccinated is because first of all I’m quite careful and well protected by the system here [at his official residence]. But secondly, I’m also looking at which of the vaccines should I go for. The Johnson & Johnson, the Chinese, the Russian.”
Reacting to a local newspaper that published claims that the president and his inner circle had received the jabs secretly before the country had formally received the vaccines, Health Minister Jane Aceng denied the reports.
President Museveni said that the local newspaper must issue an apology in bold or else he will go for them.
Uganda plans to vaccinate 49.6 percent of its population in phases.
It has received 864,000 vaccine doses from the Covax scheme early this month and expects an additional supply of 2,688,000 doses in June.