Health Ministry disputes Covid-19 vaccine delay as 260 test positive

The Health Ministry has disputed claims that Kenya may have to wait longer to acquire the Covid-19 vaccines as reported here.

Health CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi (pictured) said the planned position on vaccine rollout has not changed.

“The Covid-19 vaccination program which is still on course is divided into three phases and nothing has changed,” Dr Mwangangi said.

Further, she recapped that Kenya will procure vaccines through the COVAX facility, as had earlier stated last month.  

“We will receive 24 million doses from the facility and another 11 million doses from other sources, to vaccinate 16 million people over a period of 18 months spread over three Government fiscal years and not calendar years,” she clarified.

"The deployment plan which is currently undergoing stakeholder input is aligned to the government fiscal year. Therefore, this is the third quarter of the current fiscal year which began in July last year and ends in June this year,” the CAS explained.

(A fiscal year also known as the financial year is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes)

Going by the ministry’s calculations on when the vaccines will arrive and their timeline of being rolled out, the first three phases of vaccination will end in July 2022.

The Ministry expressed confidence saying that they are working with other levels of government and expect delivery before the end of this month.

This as 260 people tested positive for the coronavirus today, from a 5,873 sample size.

Kenya’s total caseload now stands at 102,613, with 1,233,920 cumulative tests conducted so far.

Some eighty-three patients have also recovered from the disease, “58 from the home-based care while twenty-five are from various health facilities.”

There are now 84,873 total Covid-19 recoveries in the country.

The death toll remains 1,794.

Dr Mwangangi added: There are 341 patients currently admitted in various health facilities countrywide, while 1,319 are on Home Based Isolation and Care.  30 patients are in the Intensive Care Unit, 14 of whom are on ventilatory support and 16 on supplemental oxygen.”