Caregivers in Kampala, Uganda, reported waiting three to six hours for childhood immunisation. A study published in 2014 combined a survey of 821 caregivers with nine focus groups and nine key-informant interviews. Long queues were reported particularly at public facilities; 96 per cent of survey respondents were mothers.
The delays were not simply a product of high demand. Facilities had too few immunisation workers, some staff arrived late, and centres without refrigerators sometimes sent a worker to headquarters to collect vaccines. Intermittent supplies and transport compounded the problem. Forty-three per cent of respondents were willing to wait no more than one hour, while only 33 per cent would accept more than three hours.
Caregivers balancing work or collecting another child from preschool could leave without vaccination after waiting. The vaccine might officially be free, but several hours remained a real cost. In this case, living in a city with health facilities did not guarantee timely access to the service inside them.