Finally on the coast Kenyans, with the decisive action of local institutions that for weeks have been invited (to put it mildly) by the business tourism of Malindi and Watamu to activate, are responding positively to the vaccine campaign.
And this response can lead in a short time the hospitals of Malindi, Kilifi, Gongoni, Rabai, Mariakani, Vipingo and Bamba, i.e. the locations authorized for the administration of the vaccine, to quickly exhaust the doses and be able to request more and more.
This has happened, for example, in recent days: after Tuesday, the Governor Amason Kingi and Watamu MP Owen Baya spoke at the launch of the new "modern" vaccine campaign in Malindi, from 250 weekly doses has gone suddenly to 3400 doses sent by the Ministry of Health. So the County of Kilifi, after Nairobi, goes to the top of the administration and will soon be able to immunize a large part of tourism operators who work closely with many foreigners who are almost all equipped with "green pass" or at least are vaccinated.
Kenya currently does not require a vaccine passport to enter the country, but when the situation improves in percentage, could align with countries that have signed bilateral treaties to facilitate travel for business and tourism and permanently eliminate the quarantine on return from Kenya and other restrictions, thus facilitating the choice of destination.
The economy is also negatively affected by the lack of flow of foreigners into the country and health security is no longer the primary concern for the Kenyan coast, as Kingi mentioned in his speech at Malindi Hospital. It's economic security that is more in the balance due to the pandemic and the government's slow pace of the vaccination program.
However, Kingi said he is confident that in the coming weeks, with the arrival of tens of thousands of new doses, the Kenyan coast will be able to reach good levels and that ordinary people will respond positively to the campaign, which should not concern only those who depend on tourism and its induced activities.