Alarm as Kenyans seeking Covid jab drop by 20,000
The government has found itself in a difficult position over the dwindling number of Kenyans going for Covid-19 vaccination on a daily basis over the past one month.
Since September, the number of Kenyans going for the jab has reduced by 20,000, giving the Ministry of Health bosses, who had expected to hit a target of vaccinating 80,000 Kenyans each day, sleepless nights.
The Ministry of Health has recorded a daily vaccination figure of 20,000 from a high of 80,000 recorded in August. In the last one week, the Ministry of Health has been vaccinating around 60,000 people, down from a high of 80,000 recorded in August. On Tuesday, 61,000 people were immunised, according to the Health ministry data.
Covid-19 vaccine deployment task force chair Willis Akhwale says the country could be doing better with an avalanche of vaccines available at the moment. “We need to vaccinate at least 80,000 people per day,” he said when asked why the numbers were not increasing as earlier projected.
On August 25, when the announcement to vaccinate 80,000 per day was made, the Ministry said it had already put in place requisite infrastructure to enable multiple vaccines deployment across the country.
“It needs to be faster, but what we are witnessing is a process that is moving slowly yet we have enough vaccine doses and more are expected in the coming weeks.”
Pandemic not over
Akhwale (pictured) emphasised the need for counties and political leaders to mobilise people to get vaccinated.
“We expected that mobilisation was to be more active at the county level,” he said wondering why politicians were assembling people for rallies instead of ensuring they get vaccinated first. “When did you last hear politicians telling people to go for vaccination? he posed.
He took note of the declining number of Covid infections, but at the same pointed out that it had come to the attention of the ministry that many Kenyans were assuming the pandemic is over and become complacent.
“Even though cases are going down, the level of complacency is also increasing. The end result here could be counterproductive,” he said. As of November 1, 2021, a total of 5.4 million vaccines had been administered across the country.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said in his Covid-19 update yesterday that of these, 3.7 million were partially vaccinated while the number for those fully vaccinated stood at 1.7 million.
