KENYA – Over 182,000 vaccine doses donated by France to the COVAX facility have arrived in Kenya through UNICEF.
The AstraZeneca vaccine shots will help provide second doses for health workers, teachers and other essential workers.
“We have recently embarked on vaccinating our people for the second dose, so this comes at a critical time. It will ensure our health workers, teachers and other essential workers are protected, and that our health centers countrywide can continue providing vital care to people affected by COVID-19,” Dr Willis Akhwale, the Ministry of Health Chairman of COVID Vaccine Deployment Taskforce, said while receiving the shipment.
France President, Emmanuel Macron, pledged to give 60 million doses of vaccine to countries in need around the world, including Kenya, before the end of 2021. By the end of June, 2.6 million doses had already been distributed.
The roll out of the national vaccination campaign is being led by the Ministry of Health, with support from WHO, UNICEF, Gavi and other partners.
The Government of Kenya is currently prioritizing second doses for health workers, teachers, other essential workers and people aged over 58.
UNICEF is responsible for transporting the vaccines, managing cold chain capacity and in collaboration with WHO, is supporting the Ministry of Health in areas of planning, technical support, capacity building, risk communication and community engagement.
Kenya recorded 506 new Covid-19 cases from a sample size of 7,376 tested in the last 24 hours, marking a positivity rate of 6.9 per cent, a decrease from 7.9 per cent the previous day.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health said the total confirmed positive cases now stands at 186,959 and cumulative tests conducted so far are 1,996,442.
“From the cases, 468 are Kenyans while 38 are foreigners. 287 are males and 219 females. The youngest is a two-month-old infant while the oldest is 103 years,” reads the statement.
At the same time, 8 patients are reported to have succumbed to the disease, which now pushes the cumulative fatalities to 3,705.
As of Wednesday, a total of 1,511,693 vaccines had been administered across the country. Of these, total first doses are 1,021,982 while second doses are 489,711.
Among those who had received their second doses were 151,806 people aged 58 and above, others 137,169, Health Workers 94,978, Teachers 67,376 while Security Officers are at 38,382.
The uptake rate of the second dose was 45 per cent, with the majority of the recipients being male (55 per cent).
The proportion of fully vaccinated adults in Kenya is 1.88 per cent.
