Kenya to start the second dose of Covid-19 jabs on Friday

By Samuel Ouma

Kenya has announced that it will start administering the second dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine tomorrow, May 28.

The country's Chairperson of the Vaccine Taskforce, Dr. Willis Akhwale, announced on Thursday that there are only 100,000 of the AstraZeneca, expecting 72,000 others from South Sudan.

According to Dr. Akhwale, those to be vaccinated have been notified.

“In keeping with the recommendations of the World Health Organization, second dose is administered after 12 weeks so people who are due have received a message as a reminder which is being sent 48 hours to when one is expected to go for their second jab from tomorrow,” Dr. Akhwale said.    

So far, the East African nation has inoculated more than 960,000 people and is committed to vaccinating 60 percent of the population by June 2022.

As of Thursday, May 27, Kenya's population was 54 831,547, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations Data.

Since the first case was reported in the country on March 13, 2020, more than 169,000 people have contracted the virus, above 3,000 people have succumbed to Covid-19 related conditions, and more than 100,000 have recovered from the disease.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has revealed that Kenya is preparing for a possible 4^th wave of Covid-19 in the coming weeks, urging Kenyans to be extra vigilant by adhering to protocols instituted by the ministry.

At the same time, he noted that 28 people had contracted the Indian variant calling on the County governments to enhance capacity in health facilities to avert further crisis.

He added that the detection of the Indian variant appears to have shaken the country’s healthcare system as hospitals in the Lake City of Kisumu, where the virus was detected, are full of Covid-19 patients, and additional patients are being referred to neighbouring counties.