Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe says Kenya has no plans to place orders for two Covid-19 vaccines that have shown promise.
Mr Kagwe, who recently touched off a social media storm after he appeared to dismiss the efficacy of a Pfizer vaccine , yesterday said Kenyans will not be used as guinea pigs “to test vaccines that are essentially not cleared.”
Yesterday, Moderna, another US-based drug maker, announced that its vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, was 94.5 percent effective against the novel coronavirus, only a week after Pfizer and BioNTech reported that its candidate BNT162b2, had an over 90 percent efficacy.
Mr Kagwe said the Health ministry was just being cautious to prevent Kenyans from falling “prey to commercial operations.”
“Nobody would want us to succeed in getting a vaccine more than the government and that is why we also are involved through Kemri-Wellcome Trust in the attempt to come up with a vaccine,” he said, adding: “But ... Kenyans will not be used as guinea pigs to test vaccines that are essentially not cleared, which we are not sure about.”
The CS said the government is not in a rush to pre-order the vaccines until and the World Health Organisation gives the green light.
“It is all work in progress in our view, until WHO has announced that now we have a vaccine that can now be used widely, that is when we will swing into action,” he said. Mr Kagwe expressed fears that the vaccines could have side effects, just like others that had been released earlier.
“Those who are rushing to tell us about the vaccines are the ones who will rush to condemn us when people start dying or having serious side effects,” he said.
Acting Health Director-General Patrick Amoth said the reports about the efficacy of the vaccines have not been peer-reviewed.
He said such reports should be independently reviewed in addition to World Health Organisation’s guidance.
“This is not the tail end of the process because they require a further two or three months of investigation before they can be submitted for approval,” he said.
The vaccines should to be transported at a temperature of between -70 and -80 degrees Celsius, a requirement that Kenyan infrastructure lacks. According to Dr Amoth, even when they become available, in addition to revamping the handling infrastructure, the government will have to wait longer before it gets them.
“The demand will be so high and therefore developing countries will be the last to receive the vaccine. We will continue to advocate for the public health and social measures to be able to contain the virus,” he said.
Kenya is among 92 low and middle income economies participating in the Covax vaccine facility, which aims at procuring and distributing Covid-19 vaccines at affordable prices.
It is also participating in the research through the Kemri-Wellcome Trust in conjunction with AstraZeneca and Oxford. As the debate rages on, the pandemic continues to claim more Kenyans.
By yesterday, 1,287 Kenyans were reportedly dead, 274 in this month alone, after 18 more patients succumbed to the disease, according to the latest MoH statistics.
