President Uhuru Kenyatta has flaged off the countrywide distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Central Vaccine Depot in Kitengela, Kajiado County ahead of the launch of a national vaccination campaign tomorrow.
President Kenyatta reiterated the government’s commitment to ensure the success of the vaccination exercise and urged Kenyans to continue observing Covid-19 containment protocols.
The President said the first persons to be administered will be health workers, then Police forces who are emergency service providers, followed by teachers, people with underlying conditions then the elderly.He added that the policy of the administration of the vaccine, will see the front-line workers, teachers who are equally exposed and those above 58 years be vaccinated first
He was speaking shortly after flagging off the national distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Central Vaccine Depot in Kitengela, Kajiado County.
At the same time, the Head of State cautioned Kenyans including the media to stop peddling falsehoods on the Covid-19 vaccination exercise saying frontline health workers and service providers will be the first in line to receive the vaccine.
1.02 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines were shipped from the Serum Institute of India (SII). Dr Willis Akhwale, the head of the vaccines taskforce revealed that almost half of the shots have already been dispatched to regional depots. These include Nairobi, Meru Nyeri, Garissa and Mombasa whose doses were dispatched on Wednesday just hours after the drugs arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA)
The first Covid-19 vaccine jab is expected to be officially administered at the Kenyatta National Hospital tomorrow (Friday).
According to Dr Collins Tabu, the head of Kenya’s National Vaccines and Immunisation Programme, who spoke in Kitengela where President Uhuru Kenyatta flagged off the dispatch of vaccines from the central depot to other parts of the country .
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe on his part, said the recipients of the vaccine in the first phase will not be charged for it. Additional vaccines are expected to arrive in the country in April this year.
This comes as 528 new cases of covid 19 have been recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 107,329, from a sample size of 6,291. Giving a daily briefing on coronavirus, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said that total recoveries have hit 87,099 after 185 patients were discharged. Sadly, 4 patients have succumbed to the disease bringing the death toll to 1,870