Kenya has 100,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses left, says CS Mutahi Kagwe

Kenya now has 100,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines left amid uncertainty over when the second batch of Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine jabs will arrive in the country.

While speaking on Thursday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said it is crunch time for the country but asked Kenyans who had gotten their first shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine not to panic since the initial dose offers up to 70 per cent protection.

“We are better off with a first dose than none at all. We have not heard from anywhere of people dying because they did not get the second dose,” he said.

However, this comment, now deleted from the Ministry's social media page, irked a section of Kenyans online.

This comes as timelines for getting the second vaccine dose are catching up amid a shortage occasioned by delays from Covax, the WHO-backed programme that is tasked with administering vaccines to lower-income countries including Kenya. 

Covax was hit by shortages after the main supplier, the Serum Institute of India, halted exports to prioritise India following a recent explosion of coronavirus infections. The move by the company, which is the world’s biggest vaccine-maker, has left many countries, including Kenya, scrambling to secure alternate sources of Covid-19 vaccines.

The manufacturer's export ban has badly affected Africa’s mass vaccination drive, and it's now expected that this could further derail efforts to vaccinate the continent which is already lagging behind other parts of the world. 

Dosage

It is recommended that the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine be taken in two doses, with the second coming weeks after the first.

As at Thursday, 948,980 in Kenya had taken the jab, 288,146 of whom were aged 58 years and above. Others include 163,490 health workers, 149,018 teachers and 80,153 security officers.

Mr Kagwe now says that with the delay in shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines, Africa should look into getting alternative vaccines that are readily available.

“As a continent we must stop believing that there is a good samaritan out there who is just about to come and help us. It is everyone for himself and God for us all,” he said. 

The government, he added, will also consider taking about 150,000 doses from countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, which cannot administer the vaccine to its populace before the expiration date in June this year.

“Other measures include taking back doses from counties where uptake has been low and redistribute them to counties where demand was high.”

The Health CS is also hopeful that Kenya can get 1 million doses from the 60 million doses being donated by the US so that it can vaccinate those who have received the first dose.

“We are still vaccinating, but what I can tell you is that we are at the tip, and we need more vaccines like yesterday.” 

Yesterday, the country reported 494 new cases amidst a a positivity rate of 7.7 per cent. Five people lost their lives to Covid-19 in the last one day. 

50 people recovered from the disease, with 27 being recoveries in various hospitals and 23 receiving home-based care.