Kenyans urged to take Covid jab as 4.6m doses arrive
By George Brian, December 7, 2021
Some 4.6 million Covid-19 vaccines landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) last evening, increasing the prospects of the country meeting the target of fully vaccinating 10 million people by end of December and 27 million by the end of next year.
The new consignment adds to the 16.2 million that have already been received. This brings the total number of vaccines received so far to 20.8 million.
Speaking ahead of the event at JKIA where Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe was to receive the vaccine consignments, National Covid-19 Vaccine deployment task force chairman Dr Willis Akhwale said it is now upon Kenyans to get vaccinated.
“We don’t have any excuse now that vaccines are sufficient. Let people step up and get the jab,” he said.
Yesterday, Dr Akhwale maintained that the government was keen on implementing measures that would see people who are not vaccinated locked out of government, hospitality and transportation services.
He said the government was mulling new strategies including facilitating people to reach vaccination centres and taking the immunization services to homes.
The 4.6 million vaccines received last night were from Germany and Argentina. Some 4.2 million were Johnson & Johnson while 400,000 were AstraZeneca.
“We are going to receive additional 2.6 million doses before the end of the week,” he said.