1.25 Million Kenyans to be Inoculated Against COVID-19 Before June

The Health Ministry says 1.25 million Kenyans will be vaccinated against COVID-19 before June this year.

Kenya is set to receive 24 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the COVAX facility and 11 million jabs from other sources, with a view of inoculating at least 16 million Kenyans over a period of 18 months.

Kenya will benefit from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson, and Johnson, and any other vaccines included in the COVAX facility.

“Given the current global shortage of adequate vaccine stocks, the government is exploring procurement through other mechanisms like the Africa CDC to cover an additional 5 million people,” Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said.

A taskforce chaired by Dr. Willis Akhwale has been established to oversee the procurement and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines. 

The Ministry of Health is seeking to hire more than 23,000 healthcare workers, including 8,000 heath volunteers, to ensure the three-phased vaccination process runs smoothly.

The first phase runs between February and June and will see a total of 1.25 million people including frontline healthcare workers, and all staff working in medical facilities vaccinated. Others are workers in essential services such as security and immigration.

9.7 million Kenyans above the age of 50 and those above 18 years with underlying conditions will be inoculated in the second phase between July 2021 and June 2022.

In the third phase, 4.9 million Kenyans, especially the vulnerable populations, will receive the jab.