Govt sponsored COVID-19 vaccines depleted at Aga Khan Hospital Nairobi

The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi has announced a temporary suspension of government sponsored COVID-19 vaccination.

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In a statement released on Tuesday evening, the hospital cited depletion of stocks of the free AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We appreciate Kenyans for turning up in large numbers for the free COVID-19 vaccination under the government program. We shall announce the resumption of the exercise once we receive more doses from the Ministry of Health,” the statement reads.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said 130,575 Kenyans have been vaccinated so far.

The ministry noted that 1.12 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines have been delivered to the country with 806,000 of those doses distributed countrywide.

Kenya is seeking to upscale and vaccinate more than 50,000 people a day. However, India’s decision to put a temporary hold on all major exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine doses has had implications for Kenya.

“There may be a delay because of India, we are pursuing other avenues to ensure that there is no shortage of the vaccine,” said Susan Mochache, PS, Ministry of Health.

The Africa Center for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director Ahmed Ogwell says the regional body is in talks with manufacturers to ensure that Kenya is not left behind.

“ The deliveries will be adjusted as we continue to negotiate. We will address the delay in coming days,” Dr. Ogwell said.

People who received their first jab this month, are scheduled to receive their next dose in May with CDC Africa saying a delay in receiving the second dose will not affect the efficacy of the vaccine.

“The second dose is a booster. What we are doing is discouraging the mixing of vaccines,” Dr. Ogwell added

The government is also looking to procure the South African-manufactured single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine and not ruling out other vaccines that have been given approval by the W.H.O and the pharmacy and poisons board.

Statistics from the Health Ministry show that the latest positivity rate is 19.1% after 1,530 people tested positive raising the country’s caseload to 132,646.

Total number of fatalities is 2,147.

Additional report by Dorcas Wangira