60,000 doses of Covid 19 vaccines arrive in Eldoret

COVID-19 vaccine flag off at Kitengela Central vaccine deport. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

A consignment of 60,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been received in the North Rift region.

They are to carter for Baringo, Nandi, Uasin Gishu, West Pokot, Turkana and Trans Nzoia counties.

While receiving the consignment at the Eldoret Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) centre, which is the regional store, Uasin Gishu County Health executive Evelyn Rotich said health workers, teachers and uniformed officers will be prioritised in the vaccination.

“We are ready to go now that we have the doses and our staff have been well trained on safe storage of the vaccines at the cold room, as well as on the administration of the vaccine," Dr Rotich said.

Teachers and health workers from both public and private institutions will be the target, with an assurance from the county that there are enough trained officers to carry out the exercise.

A total of 6,000 doses will go to the three vaccination centres in Uasin Gishu County, including Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Huruma County Hospital and Moi Barracks Defense Forces Recruits Training School.

"We have staff trained from the three facilities and once we start rolling out, the vaccines will be provided at the three facilities starting with the priority workers," Rotich said.

She said the vaccines will be dispatched to various counties once they are ready to collect them.

The consignment is part of the 1.02 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that arrived in the country on Tuesday.

They were transported by Unicef as part of the Covax facility, which aims to provide equitable access to vaccines for all countries around the world. 

Swarup Mishra, the National Assembly Health Committee vice chair, said it is a good gesture by the government to send the 60,000 doses to the North Rift even though they are not enough to cater for the whole region.

The Kesses MP said more doses are expected to be rolled out soon and applauded the government for being among the first African countries to acquire the vaccine.

"The vaccines are not enough but something is better than nothing.

"We have to start with what we have and prioritise those on the frontline in the fight against this pandemic," Mishra said.