Second Covid dose vaccinations to kick off next week – KBC

The government has put on notice individuals believed to be cashing in on the desperation of Kenyans seeking the Covid-19 vaccine.

The government says the Covid-19 vaccine is free and no Kenyan should be compelled to pay to receive the jab.

“Anyone found charging Kenyans a fee for the vaccines will face the full force of the law. I encourage all to report any such cases that they come across to the nearest police station or County Administration officers” warned Health CS Mutahi Kagwe.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health dispelled fears about the availability of the second dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Kagwe announced that frontline workers who got their first dose in March will kick off the second dose vaccination exercise by the end of next week.

He maintained that the delayed second shot will not affect the protection levels against the virus.

“Indeed, research evidence has shown that extending the duration between doses by four weeks maximizes the protective effects of the vaccine. Immunogenicity (level of protection) data shows that antibody response is two times higher with an interval of equal or higher than 12 weeks from the first dose”

He said 130,000 doses expected in the country early next week under Covax facility through the GAVI dose sharing arrangement across neighbouring countries will be used for the exercise.

“The vaccines we are expecting have a shelf life of one month which means they will expire at the end of June. For that reason, we encourage all the frontline workers who got their first dose in the month of March to turn up for their second dose as soon as they are required to do so by notification from the Chanjo system” he said.

The health ministry is also mopping up doses that have not been used so far in this first phase.

“The cumulative available doses will enable the country to start off our second dose vaccination by the end of next week… We urge all the vaccination centres to remain open throughout the weekend of 29th and 30th of this month to enable the exercise of second dose administration to be carried out” he added.

Kagwe said there were elaborate plans to ensure the country attains herd immunity.

“The Government is working on the acquisition of additional vaccines to ensure 60% of the population is vaccinated by the end of June 2022. In this regard, the procurement agreement through African Union for 30million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines is almost complete”.

So far a total of 951,026 persons have so far been vaccinated against the COVID-19 disease countrywide.

Of these; 289,030 are aged 58 years and above, Health Workers 163,773, Teachers 149,641, Security Officers 80,360 and Others 268,222.