Kenya has received the first consignment of the coronavirus vaccine.
Speaking from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Tuesday midnight when the consignment of 1.02 million units of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine arrived, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said Kenya had been fighting the Covid war with rubber bullets, but with the vaccine, it now has the equivalent of machine guns.
However, he added that the war was not over and that Kenya was still in the middle of a pandemic.
The CS was flanked by Transport CS James Macharia and World Health Organisation representative Rudi Eggers. Kagwe thanked Unicef and the WHO for working with Kenya to make the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine available.
The Qatar Airways plane flight QR1341 ferrying the vaccines touched down at 11.50pm. The Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine, which is best suited for Africa, will first be issued to frontline workers across the country.
The vaccines will be stored in Kitengela before being distributed across the country, CS Kagwe said. Priority will be given to regional hospitals before being rolled out to far-flung areas.
Among the first to receive the dose will be healthcare workers, followed by other frontline workers such as the police and teachers.
Next in line will be Kenyans with underlying health conditions that make them vulnerable to coronavirus.
The Health CS sought to allay fears that the vaccines may not be enough, clarifying that there will be subsequent batches.
He said the vaccination was voluntary and advised Kenyans to avail themselves of the opportunity to get protected from the disease.
The rest 525,000 will be issued later as the second dose.
Other groups prioritized in the first batch include vulnerable groups and hospitality workers.
According to the vaccination plan, the first phase will target 1.25 million people, while phase two will target 9.76 million individuals above the age of 50 years and those with comorbidity.
At least 4.9 million people are factored in the third phase.
