In Kenya only the American giant Pfizer was missing and is ready to land in Nairobi this week with more than 2 million doses. After the donation of special -70 degrees "blast chillers" to be delivered to regional centers and the arrival yesterday from Dubai of 2.2 million special syringes, everything is ready to add this type of vaccine to AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and the penultimate arrival, the Chinese Sinopharm.
Although 5 million doses are now reported in the country, the vaccination process continues to move slowly. There is little confidence in the vaccines, and especially in the remote and rural areas of Kenya, there is not even money to afford transportation to the nearest vaccine centers.
Nor is there too much blame to be placed on Kenyans, as the data regarding the health of Kenyans speak of 4 million people at risk of malnutrition due to climate change, compounded by the economic crisis brought on by the restrictions of the pandemic.
Data on Covid-19 in Kenya are of little concern by comparison.
According to information transmitted by the Ministry of Health, the government has fully vaccinated 3.4 of the population and the average does not rise more than 0.1 per week.
Even experts who had relied on politicians' optimistic predictions that the country would have vaccinated 10 million adult Kenyans by the end of the year are beginning to declare that it will be almost impossible to reach that figure.
Unless drastic decisions are taken like the one adopted this week by Angola, which decided to make the vaccine mandatory. By October 31, the entire population must be immunized and, in any case, by the 15th, must have an appointment for the first dose. According to the Ministry of Health of the African country, there will also be doctors who will go house to house, especially in villages less served by vehicles and roads.
For now, Kenya has not leaked any such intentions and is continuing operations aimed only at those who voluntarily come to the health facilities authorized to vaccinate.
There are no indications or media campaigns that strongly recommend vaccination and, despite the World Health Organization is pushing for this hypothesis, there are no plans to establish the Green Pass as a tool to access public places, restaurants or other. Also because with such minimal percentages of vaccinated people it would mean practically going back to lockdown. A later date could be indicative, but at the same time it will be necessary to speed up the process and raise awareness among the population, as well as putting the poor and disadvantaged in a position to access vaccination centers more easily.