Uhuru Kenyatta flags off dispatch of Covid-19 vaccines
Thursday March 04 2021
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on March 4, 2021 flags off vaccines destined for depots in various parts of the country. PHOTO | ELIZABETH MERAB | NMG
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday flagged off the dispatch of vaccines from the central depot in Kitengela on the outskirts of the capital Nairobi, to other parts of the country including Eldoret, Nakuru, Kakamega and Kisumu counties.
According to Dr Willis Akhwale, the head of the vaccines taskforce, almost half of the shots have already been dispatched to regional depots. These include Nairobi, Meru, Nyeri, Garissa and Mombasa whose doses were dispatched on Wednesday just hours after the drugs touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) from India.
The AstraZeneca vaccines were shipped from the Serum Institute of India (SII).
According to Health director-general Patrick Amoth, the government plans to vaccinate 1.25 million Kenyans by June.
"We're doing the vaccination in phases. Phase 1 starts now until June 30 which targets 1.25 million Kenyans. Phase 2 will commence thereafter to target about 9.6 million Kenyans," he said in Kitengela on Thurs day.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe had previously indicated that healthcare workers will be the first to receive the doses.