NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 21-The Ministry of Health is ramping up COVID-19 vaccination in drought-hit counties through food distribution networks.
Acting Director-General for Health Dr Patrick Amoth said this has been made possible through partnerships with Non-Governmental Organizations.
“Even though we are facing drought, it’s a big opportunity because when the government is distributing food with World Food Programme, Red Cross and AMREF, it’s a latitude to offer vaccines in the same platform,” said Amoth.
The Ministry of Health has faced numerous challenges in the vaccination exercise due to the nomadic nature of communities in the north and other areas hit by drought.
Amoth said the Ministry [of Health] is working with the Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizens Affairs, and Special Programmes which handles Devolution to get as many people vaccinated.
Turkana, Mandera, Wajir Garissa, Tana River and Marsabit whose major population are pastoralists have less than 1% of their population fully vaccinated.
On Thursday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe urged all devolved units including those affected by drought to put in place a framework of inoculating their residents with keen consideration on the dynamics involved particularly in the pastoral regions.
“Each county government must structure how they are going to vaccinate their people in accordance with the placing and population dynamics. Every county should be acting swiftly by using mobile facilities if necessary, adapting to the situation that citizens present to them,” Kagwe said.
At the same time, the Ministry of Health has urged counties whose uptake is low to share the vaccine doses with the counties whose uptake is high so as to minimize wastage.
Kagwe appealed to health workers and community mobilizers to work closely to marshal Kenyans to get vaccinated.
“Pfizer and Moderna once removed from the freezers must be used within 30 days which means they have a short shelf life. We want to ensure our target of ten million mark is met by December, hence we must minimize waste,” he said.
He said that in the next two weeks, the government will have received and supplied all doses required for to attain the 10 million target doses by the end of the year.
Kenya had vaccinated 4.6 million people by October 21, 2020.
And to enhance efficiency in the inoculation exercise, the government is working on a framework to extend the vaccination exercise in public health facilities way beyond the working hours.
“With increased supply our focus is getting the vaccines into as many arms as possible within the shortest time possible. We are going to ensure we keep the facilities open beyond the working hours,” Kagwe said.
The Ministry of Health has advised Kenyans not to mix vaccines while those who have been jabbed have been told not to go for booster shots.
“We are still insisting on the issue of the same dose. Our advice is that we should not go for a third dose where it is not necessary until further notice. We need our ICT department to be adjusted for that activity,” said Kagwe.
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