Health officials have warned that rising vaccine hesitancy among adults is threatening to erode hard-won immunisation gains in the Greater Mubende region, just as a major $1.4 million project enters its final month.
Dr Michael Baganizi, who heads the Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunisation (UNEPI), said organised religious groups discouraging communities from seeking government services remain a major barrier to disease prevention.
‘Some districts have groups that stay there, especially religious ones that teach against government services, like education, like health, including immunisation. One of the examples is one called Triple Six, which is spread in some parts and encounters with misinformation which is keeping these areas infested with multiple diseases and outbreaks,’ he said.
Dr Baganizi cautioned that unless hesitancy is tackled directly, the region risks reversing progress made under the Saving Lives and Livelihoods (SLL) project, which has supported immunisation outreach for the past two years.
The Greater Mubende region, covering Mubende, Kyankwanzi, Mityana, Luweero, Nakaseke, Kiboga, Kassanda and Nakasongola, continues to register some of the lowest vaccination levels in the country, according to a 2024 Ministry of Health survey.
During the close-out of the project’s second phase on December 5 in Kampala, SLL project manager Edward Tibawala said the intervention strengthened district response systems and revived adult vaccination in an area where uptake had previously been ‘almost nonexistent.’
‘Before this project came, there were very few numbers. In fact, the numbers were only among the women receiving the tetanus vaccination. But as I talk now, we have vaccinated over 69,000 and above individuals or adults, something that had not been the case,’ he said.
He added that recent measles outbreaks in Mubende and Kassanda were swiftly contained. ‘They were prevented and did not spread to other neighbouring districts,’ he said.
Funded by the Mastercard Foundation through the Africa CDC and Amref Health Africa, the project has trained more than 1,200 health workers in the life-course approach to immunisation.
Amref Health Africa’s country director, Dr Patrick Kagurusi, praised the coordination that enabled smooth implementation, noting strong uptake across targeted groups.
‘The SLL project has seen around 642,020 people reached with PHC service, 580,076 vaccines administered to both children under-fives and those above nine years,’ he said, adding that combining immunisation with broader outreach ‘illustrated the value’ of integrated primary healthcare.
Uganda Red Cross Society’s Director of Health Services, Ms Josephine Okwera, said community engagement had helped counter misinformation about both COVID-19 and routine childhood vaccines.
‘It does not only stop with the COVID vaccines. Even the regular, childhood vaccines, a pocket of people have myths and misconceptions,’ she said, stressing the importance of household visits to explain ‘what vaccines are, why we get vaccinated, and what happens after vaccination.’