Health CS: Kenyans to get free Covid-19 vaccine

Health CS, Mutahi Kagwe, says once the vaccine is available, Kenyans will be vaccinated for free.

During his interview with the Nation, Kagwe said that the vaccine will be included in Kenya’s national immunization program.

Kagwe also says that Kenya has given their application to Gavi in order to get authorization to introduce the Covid-19 vaccine to the country. Gavi is a global vaccine alliance that intends to increase access to immunization in developing countries.

According to Health Director-General, Patrick Amoth, the vaccinations are estimated at 24 million doses. This will therefore cover approximately 20 per cent of Kenyans.

Ministry of Health has also set aside an additional Sh10 billion to obtain vaccinate another 10 per cent Kenyans during the first half of 2021.

It is also reported that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine costs Sh2, 175 per dose while the Moderna vaccine costs Sh2, 788 per dose. Additionally, the AstraZeneca vaccine costs between Sh335 to Sh446 for each dose.

All these vaccines require a two-dose regimen with a few weeks apart from each of the two doses.

The first Kenyans to get vaccinated will be about 438,000 healthcare workers whereas other priority groups will be included.

Covid-19 cases

Currently, Kenya’s total number of positive Covid-19 cases is 95,431 while those who have recovered are 76,720. Unfortunately, 1,652 have so far succumbed to the virus.

In addition, global positive cases is around 79 million and with more than 1.7 million deaths. United States is among the most hit nation worldwide with more than 18.5 million positive cases.