Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) in Uganda in partnership with Rotary Club of Sonde, Private Sector Foundation, Uganda Health Care Federation and Ministry of Health conducted a mass COVID-19 vaccination exercise in Mukono District vaccinating up to 4,462 people within four (4) days. The private sector partnership is aimed at scaling up vaccination across the country.
The vaccination drive was launched on 1st April at Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda, Namanve plant attended by RC Sonde President, Kate Barassa, and Catherine Gita, Human Resource Director, CCBA.
During the launch, Catherine thanked and commended RC Sonde for the support towards the vaccination drive and reaffirmed the company’s commitment to ensuring the safety of their employees, customers, and community by making sure COVID-19 vaccination is accessible to all.
“We have been very deliberate about protecting our people. Our first duty is to ensure all our employees, their families, customers, partners and our community is safe. The responsibility extends to you as an individual to embrace the services that have been avialed,” she urged.
“The pandemic has affected us all, but together we rise. We continue to partner with other sector players to ensure the economy returns to vibracy and gains its initial momentum. That’s what we should all be aiming for,” she said.
In her remarks, Kate Barassa, President of RC Sonde, expressed gratitude to Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda for the partnership, financial and logistical support as well as commitment to disease prevention and treatment which is one of the pillars of Rotary International and in Uganda.
“The welfare of our community is of paramount importance to us an objective we share with CCBA, who are our neighbours. I invite you Coca-Cola to join our club as a corporate member so that we can continue to work together on more corporate social responsibility initiatives through RC Sonde,” she said.
RC Sonde targets to vaccinate at least 10,000 people during this Rotary Year running from July 2021 to June 2022. The support from CCBA will give a great push in enabling the club to achieve this goal of serving the community.
The Goma Division Health Educator Ms. Nantenza also thanked both partners for the support towards the district to achieve its vaccination targets. She indicated that so far Goma Division has vaccinated 110,000 people while as a district over 300,000 people have received at least their first dose of Covid-19 Vaccines.
“As a district, we are grappling with infections and high medical cost due to the myths and misconceptions, negative attitudes towards vaccine uptake that would otherwise help in diseases prevention. We are open to partner with the private sector in helping us scale up the vaccination campaign,” she said.