Omicron: 24 test positive for new Covid variant in Kenya

Twenty-four people have tested positive for the new Omicron variant bringing the total number of cases to 27.

The 27 cases were identified from a sample of 34 that were tested between November 23 and December 7, with the government revealing that there are nine variants circulating in Kenya.

“The 27 sequences which contributed to the 77 per cent of the samples were confirmed to belong to the newly identified Omicron variant of concern,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

This means that the 23 per cent remaining is shared by the remaining eight variants. While only four variants have been identified by names in the country, including Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron, the Ministry is yet to name the remaining five variants.

From the cases, two individuals with the Omicron variant had recently travelled from South Africa and Ghana and the rest had no recent international travel history. 

On Wednesday, Kenya confirmed three cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, joining nearly 80 other countries globally that have recorded cases of the new strain.

“The increase in cases infected with the variant and have no recent travel history suggests ongoing community transmission of this variant. I want to encourage Kenyans who are yet to be vaccinated to do so and everyone including those already vaccinated to adhere to hand washing, social distancing and other containment guidelines,” Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe said.

This, he said, will help the country avert an uncontrolled spread of the virus with the country recording a positivity rate of 23 per cent after 2,169 people tested positive of the virus from a sample size of 9,428 tested in the last 24 hours.

Dr Ahmed Kalebi, a Consultant Pathologist, said that the variant was already in the country when the cases started rising and with it now circulating in the community, cases are going to rise among both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Severe attacks

"Those who have been vaccinated are going to test positive but they will not be severely attacked. We should focus on those who are yet to be vaccinated since the attack will be severe," Dr Kalebi said.

"The purpose of vaccines is not to prevent a positive test or a respiratory virus like Omicron, it's to keep you out of the hospital, and that's exactly what they're doing," he added.

For the unvaccinated, though, he said, the next few months could be dire as Omicron spreads.

At the same time, experts asked the government to start administering booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the wake of reports of detection of Omicron cases in the country.

On Friday, Kenya registered the second highest positivity rate since the first case of coronavirus was reported in the country.

According to the experts, the country has enough vaccine doses that could expire should Kenyans fail to go for the jab and that protective level of the vaccines have waned, more so on Kenyans who got their doses earlier.

Studies have shown that after getting vaccinated against Covid-19, protection against the virus and the ability to prevent infection with variants may decrease over time.

“Scientific evidence has shown that within six months of getting vaccinated, the protective level of the vaccines wanes, and those who got their jabs earlier are very much exposed, hence the urgent need for booster jabs,” Dr Kalebi said.

Asked why other viruses, including polio or yellow fever do not require a booster shot, Dr Kalebi said that unlike the coronavirus, those other viruses hardly undergo mutation that changes their structure to render the vaccine ineffective.

“Flu and Covid-19 change so frequently that vaccines against them have to keep being updated to match the changes,” he said.

Doses of vaccine

Dr Kalebi said that with enough vaccine doses in the country, the government should consider giving the booster dose to protect more people.

“I wonder why the ministry is dilly-dallying to start booster doses for health care workers, the elderly, and those with co-morbidities who got vaccinated five months ago, these people are vulnerable now,” he said.

As of yesterday, the country had received 23 million doses of various vaccines from donors, out of which only 8.6 million had been administered. Of these, 5.1 million Kenyans had their first dose with 3.4 million fully vaccinated.

This means that the country has an extra 14 million doses of vaccine that are yet to be administered, some of which have a short shelf life.

Dr Catherine Kyobutungi, the Executive Director of African Population Health Research Centre, said that with the increased stocks in the country, most of the vaccines are likely to expire.

“Before the vaccines expire, I would advise the ministry to give booster shots to those who need or want them. This is better than letting the vaccine expire. There is a high likelihood that the vaccines will expire,” she said.

However, Kenya is yet to give out guidance on booster vaccines as other vaccines including Pfizer have reported that only a booster dose of the vaccine will give immunity to Omicron.

Pfizer-BioNTech has asked the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize a booster dose of its coronavirus vaccine for all adults, the request is yet to be approved.

Data from clinical trials showed that a booster shot increased the immune response in trial participants who finished a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna primary series six months earlier or who received a J&J/Janssen single-dose vaccine two months earlier.

“With an increased immune response, people should have improved protection against getting infected with Covid-19 with a booster shot helping to prevent severe symptoms,” says the Pfizer-BioNTech study.

Booster shots

Already, Rwanda has started giving booster shots to high-risk groups targeting frontline workers, people above the age of 50, and people aged between 30-49 with suppressed immunity or underlying health conditions.

Rwanda’s Minister of Health, Dr Daniel Ngamije, said that the decision to give a booster shot came following reports that the Omicron variant could be a challenge to the vaccine and other available Covid-19 treatment drugs.

“As we gather sufficient information about the new variant, no effort is spared to reduce the risks of having the variant spread to Rwanda,” Dr Ngamije said.

As many as about 40 countries are now administering booster doses of the Covid vaccine, according to Our World in Data. Germany, Austria, Canada and France are among the first countries to begin administering the booster shots.

The aim of the booster shot is to essentially restore the vaccine’s effectiveness in the body to the necessary levels.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the booster doses may be needed only if “there is evidence of insufficient protection against these disease outcomes over time.”

WHO further elaborates that the degree of the waning of immunity and the need for booster shots may differ between vaccines, target populations, the virus in circulation, the variant of concern, and the intensity of exposure.

According to a directive from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), those aged 18 years or older may choose which Covid-19 vaccine to receive as a booster shot.

“Some people may prefer the vaccine type that they originally received while others may prefer to get a different booster. CDC’s recommendations now allow for this type of mix and match dosing for booster shots,” WHO states.