Since last weekend throughout Kenya has started the race to 10 million adults vaccinated that, in the expectations and (above all) in the promises of the Government should end at the end of the year, presenting the international community a situation of response to the pandemic very different from that of the last ten months of slow vaccination.
The Ministry of Health presented Sunday, November 7, a chart that certifies the rise of the doses inoculated daily from 3000 two months ago to 65 thousand in recent days.
The prediction is to soon reach 100,000 vaccinations per day but to do that you have to make counties self-sufficient with supplies, refrigerators, syringes and more.
"We are seeing a change in the way people show up for vaccination, a sign that by December we may be close to vaccinating over 10 million people, which is our goal - confirmed Minister Mutahi Kagwe - however, there are some regions that still do not have sufficient performance, such as in the west of the country and especially Nyanza County."
In this sense, the Minister promised to give the necessary financial support to some counties that have lagged behind, in order to align with the vaccine average in Nairobi and other areas where it is proceeding at a good speed.
"While some are lagging behind," Kagwe said, "at the same time others are operating at their best, and now we'll try to bring everyone up to the daily numbers needed to reach the goal of 10 million people over 18 by next Christmas.
In Kenya the doses are currently there, but more are needed. For now, 9 million vaccines have been received, of which 5.5 million have been injected with 3.7 million Kenyans or residents partially vaccinated and about 1.8 million receiving the second dose.
Based on these figures, an additional 11 million vaccines would be needed by Christmas, but only 6 million are planned for now. A major release of Johnson & Johnson vaccines is expected, as they do not have a recall and would be the best solution for Kenya and Africa.
To prove this theory, as Covid-19 Task Force Chair Willis Akhwale also mentioned, many of the two million citizens who have not had their second dose are not waiting to go get it, but simply have not returned for a booster.
This could pose a future problem, not only for them but for the eventual issuance of a vaccine passport.
"Through Chanjo's online system, we would actually be able to get their details and call them to invite them to get their second dose of the vaccine," Akhwale said, "but we have to remember that this is, however, a voluntary exercise....
Currently, one in five citizens in Nairobi County is fully vaccinated, followed by two other neighboring counties, Nyeri (17%) and Kiambu (11%). All other counties are below 10%, with the semi-desert regions of Mandera (border with Somalia), Wajir and Marsabit (towards Lake Turkana) not exceeding one percent.
The most vaccination compliant in Kenya are 30 to 39 year olds, followed closely by those between 40 and 49.