At least 350,000 doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine are expected in the country by Friday, the Ministry of Health said. The doses will be used for the second jab, with priority given to health workers. As of Monday, 128,744 people had received the second dose. From the number, 37,918 are health workers, 34,926 people aged 58 and over, 13,673 teachers, 8,958 security officers and 33,926 members of the public. In total, 987,277 Kenyans have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Deputy Health Minister Susan Mochache on Monday reaffirmed the government's commitment to procure additional doses, adding that the plan is to ensure that at least 500,000 Kenyans are fully vaccinated.
"I urge all those who received the first dose to turn up to receive the second vaccine so that we have more people vaccinated against the disease, especially frontline workers and the elderly, who are vulnerable," Mochache said. "We are continuing to look for more vaccines and we expect 350,000 doses by Friday, so there is no need to panic. We want to make sure that at least 500,000 people receive the second dose soon.
Ministry figures estimate uptake of the second dose at 12.8%, with 56.4% men and 43.6% women. However, the percentage of fully vaccinated adults is still less than one per cent.
To achieve so-called herd immunity, at least 60% of the country's population would need to be fully vaccinated. Kenya received 1.02 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine last March from the Covax programme, while the second consignment, expected in the country in April, was delayed due to difficulties in the global supply chain, particularly the emergency in India. The Asian state managed to secure only 100,000 of the one million doses promised for the recall, while another 70,000 doses were received from South Sudan.
The government began distributing the second dose of AstraZeneca last month in an attempt to meet the 12-week waiting period recommended by the World Health Organisation.