Kagwe: Covid-19 vaccine expected in Kenya next month

The first batch of the Covid-19 vaccine is expected to arrive in the country next month.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said Wednesday that the government has already procured the AstraZeneca vaccine, which will be arriving as early as February.

Kagwe said that the Ministry would give guidelines on how the jab will be administered but that their first priority would be the front line health workers.

“The first group to get the vaccine will be essential workers especially health workers. It will be on a voluntary basis…we will not force anybody,” Kagwe said.

According to the CS, the Government has ordered 24 million doses of the vaccine.

There are at least three sources of getting the vaccine into the country including the government, CDC Africa and the private sector.

Kagwe who spoke after attending the burial of a relative at Mukurweini, Nyeri, reiterated that the Ministry is continually observing global trends especially in the UK, to monitor the coronavirus situation.

Covid-19 Numbers

Today, Kenya has registered 271 more cases from a 5,380 sample size in the last 24 hours.

Kenya’s total confirmed cases now stand at 97,398. Six hundred and nine patients have also recovered from the disease.

Four more patients have succumbed to the disease, raising the death toll to 1,694.

The CS lauded Kenyans for observing the set guidelines, owing to a stable positivity rate.

“The positivity rate remains stable except that we can’t be sure what is going to happen within the next ten days, so we want to observe and see whether we can maintain less than 5 per cent,” he said.

He further urged parents and teachers to ensure that children wear masks at all times as part of the school uniform.

Learners across the country are still returning to school a third day after being home for 10 months.

Earlier, Education CS George Magoha warned of visits saying that no one will be allowed inside the schools, as learners prepare for examination.