Uganda will receive its second batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses today.
A total of 175,200 doses of AstraZaneca vaccines were donated by the French embassy under the COVAX programme.
Officials from both the Ministry of Health and Unicef Uganda confirmed the development.
Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the senior spokesperson of the Health ministry, on Monday tweeted that the vaccines would arrive at 10:25pm today.
“Additional 175,200 doses of the Covid-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility will arrive in Uganda on Wednesday …at 22:25 hours,” he stated.
Ms Catherine Makumbi Ntabadde, the Unicef country communication specialist, yesterday told Daily Monitor that the vaccines are already in transit.
The latest donation adds to the 864,000 doses the country received in March.
The Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwine, yesterday said the country is working with manufacturers to procure more doses and that discussions are already ongoing.
She said after India stopped exporting vaccines because of surging cases, Uganda is consulting agents of manufacturers from other countries and once the discussions are through, orders will be placed.
Previously, the country sent $11 million (Shs38.7 billion) to World Health Organisation to procure vaccines, a process that is still pending.
The arrival of the vaccines comes at a time when the country is running short of medical oxygen as it grapples with the ravaging pandemic.
Already the country has huge number of patients who need oxygen due to the surge in numbers of Covid-19 patients in High Dependency Units and Intensive Care Units across the country.