Uganda ran a national polio outbreak response campaign January 13-19, reaching 8,265,000 children under age 5 with nOPV drops. Originally a three-day event, the campaign was extended for a further three days due to a lack of vaccine carriers. According to the MoH, there were only 24,000 door-to-door cold chain carriers available for the 80,000 teams deployed to conduct the campaign. The health ministry halted Covid-19 vaccinations as a means of freeing up cold storage equipment, and the polio vaccination teams used a staggered approach to share the carriers.
During the six-day drive, 95% of children were immunized; preliminary data showed Busoga as the best performing region with 484,809 children vaccinated, followed by South Central (450,260 children). 18 districts did not meet the 70% coverage target goal: Arua, Bududa, Bugiri, Bushenyi, Busia, Gomba, Kabarole, Kakumiro, Kampala, Koboko, Masaka, Mbale, Mbarara, Mityana, Mubende, Oyam, Sheema, and Terego. Uganda MoH; The Independent; New Vision