Minister Musenero: Uganda to Start Making Monkey Pox Vaccines; Covid19 Research Project Earned Government Shs140bn

Dr Monica Musenero, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, has said that the Ugandan government is working on a plan to start making monkey pox vaccines. Minister Musenero also revealed that her Covid19 research project earned Uganda Shs140bn.

The World Health Organization has declared monkey pox a public health emergency. Uganda has confirmed scores of monkey pox cases since July 2024.

WHO recommends available monkey pox vaccines such as MVA-BN or LC16 vaccines and the ACAM2000 vaccine.

Minister Musenero has told Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee that Ugandan scientists will work with their counterparts from across the world to start manufacturing the monkey pox vaccines in Uganda.

“The teams are coming from Africa and from outside, we are going to work on a strategy to make sure we create diagnostics, vaccines and the drugs against Monkey Pox which is the next big thing that has already been declared as a public health,” said Musenero as her ministry updated MPs on the projects they are undertaking.

She used the same appearance to wax lyrical about how her ministry’s Covid19 research project has earned government up to Shs140bn in sales of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) kits. She was happy to report that WHO was a client for the products from Covid19 research.

“During Covid19, we started doing some research – that very popular research –  and many people looked at it as a waste of money but so far we have been able to generate Shs140bn and some of this money has come from outside through orders,” she submitted.

“This is something we just started in 2020 during Covid19. So, science is something which can reposition our country very fast. We were very humbled that World Health Organisation ordered things from us, because we took a very bold initiative.”

Minister Musenero has been on the spot over some of the projects, with some calling for her sacking over alleged corruption but Museveni has always defended her record as a decorated scientist. (See Details Here, There and Over There).

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