Yesterday, Kenya received vaccines against the covid-19 virus under the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative; a program that seeks to give poor countries the vaccine.
Even before the vaccines landed in the country, there was already a plan to rip-off taxpayers.
“Kenya is bought a dose of the vaccine at US$ 7 per dose (Sh800), Brazil is buying at $3.16 (Sh400), US and Bangladesh at $4 (Sh500), South Africa $5.25 (Sh650)”, a source said.
Almost all western nations are buying the vaccine at Sh400, why is Kenya buying it at double the price?
There’s some looting in the mathematics; just like in the #KEMSABeneficiaries, COVID19Millionaires scandals.
In total Kenya gov’t is spending about shs 14B and GAVI is injecting another say shs 30B to inoculate 15m kenyans in the first phase. If we got at the price the rest of the world is paying, we could inject all the 45 million eligible Kenyans in one year.
COVAX, is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and others.
The Kenya govt promised to price the vaccine a Sh700 per dose, but since then, we’ve seen some changes in tone. First, they said that private firms will be allowed to import the vaccines, secondly, it is increasingly becoming a thing for the elites with calls to have politicians vaccinated first.
No one is remembering the health workers, who might be forced by their private health institutions to pay for the vaccines from their pockets. It will not be surprising gong by the event of a few months ago.
READ: COVID-19 Vaccines lands at JKIA
