Makerere Dons Oppose Sh4m Fine For Vaccine Saboteurs

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in Health March 1, 2022

School of Public Health (SPH) lecturers from Makerere University have warned against the fines and punishments proposed in the Public Health Amendment Bill, 2022.

The dons said that no positive results will be got from trying to control the spread of diseases. They however advised that they should put their focus on behavioral change.

On Thursday, led by Dr Rhoda Wanyenze, the dean at the School of Public Health, the lecturers approached the Parliamentary Committee on Health.

They said if they pass the law in the form they proposed, it will only give powers to the Minister of Health to punish people. And not to guide them on how to improve public health.

“Looking at this Bill, one makes an impression that actually they made to give more power to the minister. And it is not people-centred.

You aren’t going to manage to control diseases or epidemics by not talking about the individuals and communities” Prof. David Sserwadda, the head of the department of disease control and environmental health at Makerere, said.

Dr Wanyenze said there is need for the Government to come up with creative ways of dealing with cases. Instead of imprisoning people.

Health minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng tabled the Bill in Parliament last month. This is about the same time when different Government ministries, departments and agencies, together with other public places, trying to deny services to unvaccinated people.

Government had by Wednesday last week administered about 16 million doses of different vaccines against Covid-19. This is according to information released by the Ministry of Health.

“We recommend that they address behaviour change using predominantly voluntary mechanisms. This is through a combination of information, education and negotiation, and other structural interventions,” the lecturers noted in a statement presented by Richard Mugambe.

Dr Elisa Rutahigwa, the Rukungiri Municipality MP, said the deterrent punishments have worked in some parts of the country.

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