The vaccination status of Kenya according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Coronavirus (COVID 19) Disease Dashboard with Vaccination Data, Kenya has administered 6.1 million doses of the Covid 19 vaccine as of 16th November 2021. This is from a background of 254,541 confirmed cases of the disease and 5325 deaths.
Our World in Data states that in Kenya 2.35 million people are fully vaccinated and they make up 4.4% of the country’s population. This is in contrast its worldwide statistics which reveal that 7.69 billion doses of the vaccine have been given, 3.28 billion people are fully vaccinated which translates top 42% of the world’s population.
Kenya’s Ministry of Health is fully committed to the ensuring the entire adult population is fully vaccinated. To achieve this vaccination goal, it launched the country’s Covid 19 vaccination exercise in March 2021. This event was presided over by the Principal Secretary in the ministry, Ms. Susan Mochache and it was held at the Kenyatta National Hospital. This was a high profile event since the WHO country representative Dr. Ruddi Eggers, the UNICEF country representative Ms Maniza Zaman, the Ministry of Health Director General Dr. Patrick Amoth and Kenya’s Head of Immunization Dr. Collins Tabu were all present.
To accelerate its vaccination program which will ensure that citizens in all parts of the country achieve herd immunity, Kenya’s Ministry of Health launched a program in September 2021. The program prioritized the vaccination of frontline health workers, teachers, security officers, members of the public aged 50 years and above as well as all those aged 18 and above with underlying medical conditions or disabilities. During the function, the Ministry of Health’s Covid 19 Vaccine Taskforce Chairman Dr. Willis Akhwale said that in order to vaccinate 10 million people by December 2021 the government had implemented this and other strategies.
To counter the low uptake of vaccines in certain parts of the country and improve the vaccination status of Kenya, the Ministry of Health launched the Public Service Transport Operators Covid 19 Vaccination Awareness Campaign in October 2021. This program was unveiled in Nairobi and it was meant to encourage stakeholders in the public transport sector to get vaccinated since they are part of the front-line workers in this battle with Covid 19 for they transport doctors, nurses, clinicl officers and other essential services workers to their places of work each day. During the function, the Health County Secretary encouraged other counties in Kenya to launch similar vaccination drives to mobilize the entire adult population to get vaccinated.
To further increase the number of Kenyans vaccinated, the Health Cabinet Secretary Mr. Mutahi Kagwe declared in November 2021 that from December 2021 citizens will not be able to receive services in government offices without proof of their vaccination status. This move is bound to markedly improve the vaccination status in Kenya since many citizens need services like tax, education and immigration services as well as approval of development plans, transfer of motor vehicles, registration of land titles and business names.
Kenya’s vaccination status will therefore increase because of these and other measures. In addition the country will be able to achieve its vaccination goal since the she has received Johnson and Johnson vaccine, Pfizer vaccine, Moderna vaccine and Astra Zeneca Covid 19 vaccines. As a result, Kenya is able to vaccine her entire adult population because she has enough vaccine.