Sh1.6bn three-month Covid-19 vaccination drive
Covax
The government will spend Sh1.65 billion to vaccinate almost 1.25 million Kenyans against Covid-19 in the next three months.
This will be part of the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination drive set to start on Friday even as the government indicated that it will spend Sh34 billion in the next three years, targeting 16 million Kenyans.
Of that budget, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is helping Kenya access the jabs through its Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access (Covax) mechanism, will provide Sh19.7 billion.
According to the Health’s ministry’s National Covid-19 Vaccines Deployment and Vaccination Plan, 2021, the government will spend Sh857.49 million on procurement of vaccines and injection devices, warehousing and distribution in the next three months — covering 30 per cent of the population.
Training
A further Sh156.4 million will go towards the training of healthcare workers who will administer the vaccine.
“Gavi, through the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access (Covax) mechanism, has committed to supply 4.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine while the government has availed a budget of Sh933.2 million for Phase One,” the ministry says in the vaccination plan.
The planning and coordination of the vaccine rollout will take up Sh53.4 million, while data management, monitoring and evaluation will cost Sh292.6 million.
Advocacy, communication, and community mobilisation initiatives will cost taxpayers Sh295.6 million.
In the next financial year, from July, the government will spend Sh1.44 billion on procurement of vaccines and injection devices, warehousing and distribution, with its highest spending coming in from July next year when Sh8.8 billion will be set aside for the acquisition of the vaccines.
Gavi spending
The new financial year will also see Gavi spending the highest on vaccines doses for Kenya at Sh17.46 billion.
In 2021, Kenya’s budgetary allocation for the Covid-19 vaccination drive will be Sh3.75 billion, while in 2022 it will rise to Sh8.89 billion.
Of the Sh14.3 billion that the government intends to use on the vaccination till 2023, Sh11.7 billion will go into the procurement of vaccines and injection devices, warehousing and distribution — covering 30 per cent of the population.
Cold chain equipment
Overall, Kenya also plans to spend Sh1.44 billion on the cold chain equipment capacity expansion in the next financial year, while a further Sh278.5 million will go towards planning, coordination, training, and capacity building of the health care workers.
Data management, monitoring and surveillance will gobble up Sh564.5 million, while advocacy, communication, and community mobilisation initiatives will take up Sh879.8 million.
Kenya will still heavily rely on Gavi to support it with vaccines through a co-financing approach to promote country ownership and financial sustainability of the routine immunization programme.
Gavi, through its Covax facility, is expected to shoulder almost Sh19.71 billion for the vaccination drive.
The Gavi indicative prices for vaccines all vaccines available through the Covax facility is Sh770 per dose.
“Gavi through Covax facility will provide in-kind support equivalent to Sh19.71 billion by procuring vaccines and injection devices to vaccinate 20 per cent of the population (11 million people),” the Ministry of Health said in the vaccination plan.
Kenya is expected to provide budgetary resources to vaccinate additional 10 per cent of the population (4.9 million people) up to December 2023, and all related operational costs, and this will be covered through budgetary allocation in the 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years.
Other options
The Health ministry also says that the vaccines will be sourced mainly from the Covax facility “though other options for purchase will be considered.”
The vaccination will be rolled out in three phases, to progressively cover all target groups, based on vaccine availability and that the phases may overlap.
The ministry reveals that after Unicef, the global body ferrying home Kenya's first batch of Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccines under Covax facility initiative, delivers the jabs at JKIA, it will facilitate clearance costs amid preparations to distribute.
Kenya also plans to leverage on Unicef mechanisms on outsourcing of vaccine clearance at ports of entry and delivery to national and regional stores eliminates delays at the port of entry.
“Our deal includes them sorting out all the clearance fees thereafter loading them onto trucks to our main depot in Kitengela after which they will officially hand over the consignment to us,” Dr Willis Akhwale, the chairman of the vaccine advisory task force told Nation.
Clearance time
The time taken to clear vaccine consignments held at ports of entry currently does not exceed 48 hours.
"Our logistics team has acquired thermal blankets that will be used to maintain the temperatures of the vaccines as they are being moved from the cargo plane and being loaded onto the trucks that have also been fitted with a cold storage system, this is not our first-time transporting vaccines," the chair explained.
From the regional depots, Kenya will employ a mixed approach to deliver vaccines to various counties — some regions will pick up jabs from the nearest regional depots while others like Kisumu, Mombasa and Kilifi will have the vaccines delivered to them by air freight.
According to the government's official vaccines deployment and vaccination plan as seen by Nation, distribution is expected to follow the existing distribution patterns, from national to sub-county levels.
The national and regional depots are located in Eldoret (Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nandi, Trans Nzoia, Turkana, Uasin Gishu and West Pokot); Kakamega (Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega and Vihiga); Meru (Isiolo, Marsabit, Meru, and Tharaka Nithi); Kisumu (Homa Bay , Migori, Kisumu , Nyamira and Siaya ); Nyeri ( Embu , Kirinyaga , Laikipia and Nyeri); Garissa (Wajir , Mandera and Garissa ); Nakuru (Bomet , Kericho, Nakuru, Nyandarua and Samburu ), Nairobi ( Kajiado, Kiambu, Kitui, Machakos, Makueni, Murang'a, Nairobi and Narok ) and Mombasa ( Kilifi, Kwale, Lamu, Mombasa, Taita Taveta and Tana River) .
“We have been training a team of 400 drawn from all the counties including county level officers who know what we expect of them and will deliver,” a member of the vaccine taskforce who sought anonymity told Nation.
Kenya's national vaccine store has a total of eight cold rooms with a net capacity of 130M³ for positive temperature cold storage (2-8°C) and 2 freezer rooms with a net capacity of 14 M³ for negative temperature cold storage (-20°C).
Kenyas capacity at the national cold rooms is sufficient for deployment of vaccines requiring the +2oC to 8oC / -20oC of cold storage, with a quarterly vaccine delivery schedule to the national and regional vaccine stores.
This means that minimal expansion will be required to provide for less frequent shipment schedules and introduction of other vaccines in future.
