NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 13 – The Ministry of Health says it has surpassed its target to vaccinate 330,000 public school teachers in the country.
Head of the Vaccine Taskforce Dr. Willis Akhwale said that 350,000 tutors have so received the first dose and the initiative will now involve those in private schools.
“We have also increased that target by 150,000 to 480,000 that include teachers in private schools. Let me really first thank teachers, they have made the right decision to protect their health, and we want them to be fully vaccinated. Now 40 percent of them are vaccinated. That is an improvement,” he stated.
He was speaking after receiving 210,000 more AstraZeneca vaccine doses from Poland.
“With this availability of vaccine doses, we are now able to vaccinate many more people. And therefore, this is the time for Kenyans to really present themselves to vaccination posts to receive the jab,” he said
Akhwale said Kenyans will be vaccinated with the vaccine that will be available at the vaccination centre that they visit with no option of choosing specific types.
He reiterated that there is no vaccine that is superior to the other when it comes to prevention of severe diseases and prevention of death.
“No vaccine is better than another when it comes to the prevention of severe disease and death,” he said.
By September 13, more than 3 million people had been vaccinated – for the first dose at 2,270,827 and second dose 828,980.
The uptake of the second dose among those who received their first jab was at 36.5 percent with the majority being males at 56 percent while females were at 44 percent.