Did COVID-19 vaccine enforcement work? Evidence from northwestern and northern Uganda

Melissa Parker, Bob Okello, Peter Kermundu, Bono E. Ozunga, Moses Baluku, Grace Akello, Hayley MacGregor, Melissa Leach and Tim Allen

Social Science & Medicine, 2025, vol. 382, issue C

Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination programmes were shaped by diverse approaches to enforcement. Yet, little is known about how public authority influenced modes of enforcement on the ground or their ramifications for governance and public health more broadly. This article focuses on the Ugandan mandatory COVID-19 vaccination programme in two contrasting geographical and socio-political spaces: rural Dei and peri-urban Gulu. Ethnographic and survey research demonstrated that enforcement occurred in different ways and by diverse public authorities, with ostensibly contrasting results. In Dei, self-reported vaccine uptake and coverage was 77 % and 73 % respectively; while in Gulu, it was 46 % and 23 %, and below the national target of 70 %.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118273

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