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- Dozens of Somali shop owners, shop assistants and other business persons, operating at the Marine Market in the capital city of Mogadishu have started receiving COVID-19 vaccines
- This was made possible by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) serving under the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)
- The Marine Market was closed down as part of the lockdown measures by AMISOM to control and contain the spread of COVID-19 in the Halane Base Camp In March 2020
Dozens of Somali shop owners, shop assistants and other business persons, operating at the Marine Market in the capital city of Mogadishu have started receiving COVID-19 vaccines. This was made possible by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) serving under the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
The traders received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine very recently. This is a part of the effort by the organization to enable traders to conduct their business safely adhering to COVID-19 protocols.
The Marine Market was closed down as part of the lockdown measures by AMISOM to control and contain the spread of COVID-19 in the Halane Base Camp In March 2020. Later, the restrictions were eased, but with strict preventive guidelines to be adhered to by traders and customers. The local leadership and business community at the market had fully embraced the vaccination exercise.
Col. Mwesiga, who is also the chairperson of the Uganda contingent COVID-19 Response Taskforce, said vaccination of the traders was one of AMISOM’s interventions in the ongoing campaign against COVID-19. In May 2021, AMISOM Sector 1 started vaccinating its military and police personnel and by August, most of them had received their second dose.
The work of AMISOM is highly appreciated by those who go vaccinated and they hope that it would get extended to the community at large to help the country bounce back to its normalcy, which can give a critical push to businesses.
