The nationwide curfew in Kenya has been extended by another 30 days, the Ministry of Health has announced.
In a statement to newsrooms issued on Monday, October 4, 2021, the Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe said the 4 am to 10 pm curfew will go on in a move to tame Covid-19 infections in the country.
The CS further stated that public gatherings and political meetings have also been banned nationwide evens politicians traverse the country in campaigns ahead of the 2022 general elections.
Kagwe said the Ministry of Health intends to capitlise on this period to vaccinate more Kenyans.
Kenya has given itself the target of vaccinating 10 million adults against COVID-19 by December 2021.
The Health Ministry’s COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce Chairman Dr Willis Akhwale says that, as at September 6th September 2021, Kenya had received a total of 5,147,320 doses of vaccines through the COVAX Facility as well as other donations from several countries, with many more to come.
“In order to achieve our target of vaccinating 10 million people by the end of this year, we have come up with several strategies to ensure we meet this noble goal, which include increasing the number of outreach campaigns and mass vaccination centres countrywide,” Dr Akhwale adds.
According to Dr Akhwale, as of 6 September, 2.8 million doses have been administered in total, with 2 million people receiving one dose and 800,000 their second. This translates to 3% of Kenya’s adult population fully vaccinated.
The Health Ministry’s Head of Data Management and Infomatics, Dr Joseph Sitienei, adds, “The ministry plans to track the more than 800,000 people in the age-group who took the first jab but are yet to be vaccinated in the second round. Partial vaccination cannot confer protection against COVID-19.”
He appealed to as many adults as possible to get the vaccine – especially priority groups – in order to protect themselves against COVID-19.
Kenya is relying on four types of COVID-19 vaccines: AstraZeneca, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines.
In September, Kagwe said that the government is not intending to ease the Covid-19 health protocols unless the infection rate goes down.
COMMENTS