Uganda government restricts unvaccinated from public facilities

By Johana Kirabo, KAMPALA Uganda

The Uganda opposition party, Democratic Party (DP) has urged the government to stop denying unvaccinated people access to public places, saying that there is no legal framework to back it up.

DP national legal advisor Luyimbazi Nalukoola said that if government intends to use this strategy to encourage people to take up vaccination, then they should seek to back it up with the law.

Nalukoola made these remarks while addressing the press at the DP weekly presser.

“The Democratic Party demands that government institutions prioritise the law as it is, as opposed to how it ought to be which has misinformed their actions,” Nalukoola said.

Nalukoola’s comments come at a time when a number of public offices have restricted access to their space to only vaccinated people.

Some of the offices to effect this measure include National Medical Stores, National Drug Authority, Ministry of Health, among others. Parliament, too, announced last week that they were to restrict sittings to only vaccinated MPs.

Nalukoola said that as DP, they condemn the new developments.

“That action and or desires is unconstitutional, illegal, alien and therefore null and void ab initio,” Nalukoola added.

NRM deputy secretary general Rose Namayanja while appearing on NBS TV Morning Breeze on Tuesday supported the idea of blocking unvaccinated people, saying it would force people to take the vaccine, and support the government efforts of having at least 4.8 million people by December.

According to the Health Ministry, at least 3 million people have so far been vaccinated with their first dose.