Uganda authorizes Chinese nationals to import COVID-19 vaccine for own use

Uganda on Wednesday cleared a community of Chinese nationals to import up to 4,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine for their own use.

The businessmen based out of the Liao Shen industrial park in central Uganda had written to the ministry of health asking for authorization to bring in the vaccines.

"They wanted it for themselves, we said strictly limit it to yourselves, we do not want it to spread in the population. Uganda imports vaccines that are World Health Organisation prescribed, assessed for safety... , that is the vaccine we bring for the population and we have applied for it through GAVI," Uganda's minister of health Jane Ruth Aceng was quoted by the Daily Monitor as saying.

In a tweet, the ministry reiterated that no Ugandans were allowed to get the shots.

Health authorities have blamed ongoing election campaigns which have drawn huge crowds for the rise in infections.