By Nobert Natukunda
The Ministry of Health has confirmed an Ebola vaccine stock out, raising fears of the risk of spread of the disease considering the epidemic is yet to be contained in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dr. Allan Muruta, the incident commander Ebola Virus disease response at the Ministry of Health attributes the shortage to the high demand in DRC which exposes the country to the risk in case there is need of large quantities of the vaccine.
He made the remarks during the opening of a two-day cross-border meeting on Ebola, for officials and partners from Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Kampala.
Recently, Ministry of Health, delivered 300 doses of Ebola vaccine that were got from DRC to Kasese, after a nine-year-old girl succumbed to the deadly hemorrhagic fever at Bwera Ebola Treatment Unit.
However according to Jayne Tusiime an epidemiologist with the emergency program World Health Organisation, there no cause for alarm as the situation is currently under control
“Currently we do not have the vaccines in the country the stock we had run out but once there is need we always organise to get the vaccines over so that is not a worry like recently when we needed vaccines we got from the DRC because for them they had an extra stock,” Ms Tusiime said.
Uganda has had episodes of Ebola outbreaks in the past, which were all relatively controlled. In June, Ebola patients from DRC crossed into Kasese District, where three died.
