How The Government Plans To Roll Out COVID-19 Vaccination Starting February

The Government has set aside 930 million to facilitate the inoculation of Kenyans against COVID-19.

Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr. Mercy Mwangangi says the Country will receive 24 million doses from the covax facility and will procure an additional 11 million doses from other mechanisms to vaccinate nearly 16 million people.

The Government has also cautioned Kenyans against misinformation in ongoing efforts to secure a COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr Mwangangi says the Government remains focused on ensuring Kenyans are vaccinated against the global pandemic wangangi said the government has put in place vaccination infrastructure with central storage facilities in Nairobi for vaccines requiring cold chain of up to -20 degrees and some limited capacity for -70 degrees in major urban areas.

The government is building capacity of more than 23,000 healthcare workers including 8,000 health volunteers in areas of vaccines administration

She said all the vaccines that the Government intends to acquire will have undergone trials and found to be safe for use as per the international standards.

In addition to that the Ministry has already engaged the Council of Governors, and both levels of Government are working towards a smooth introduction of the vaccine, by ensuring all logistical arrangements are in place for the expected delivery of vaccines before the end of this month of February.

The vaccines will be introduced in 3 phases.

In Phase one, Kenya will prioritize the vaccination of 1.25 million people between the end of February when we expect to have received our first Vaccine consignment in the country & June 2021.

In phase 2 which will cover July 2021 to June 2022, more vaccines will become available and the Government plans to vaccinate 9.7 million more Kenyans, targeting persons above 50 years of age and those above 18 years of age with underlying health conditions. And this is also still on course.

Phase 3 will run concurrently with phase 2 depending on availability of adequate vaccines.
“In this phase, we hope to target the vaccination of 4.9 m people who will include all other vulnerable populations like those in congregate settings such as prisoners, refugees & elderly.” The CAS said.