This is according to Dr Collins Tabu, the head of Kenya’s National Vaccines and Immunisation Programme, who spoke in Kitengela where President Uhuru Kenyatta flagged off the dispatch of vaccines from the central depot to other parts of the country on Thursday.
While he did not disclose who the recipient of Kenya’s first dose will be, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe had previously indicated that healthcare workers would be the first to receive Covid-19 jabs.
The vaccine doses flagged off today by Mr Kenyatta are destined for 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.
1.02 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines were shipped from the Serum Institute of India (SII).
According to Health director-general Patrick Amoth, the government is targeting vaccination of 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 today.
The next batch of vaccines is expected in the country by end of March or April, Mr Kenyatta said in response to queries from journalists.