|
 "This may mark the beginning of the end of the pandemic," said Susan
Mochache, a senior official at the health ministry.
Nairobi received over a million AstraZeneca doses on Wednesday, the
first of 3.56 million shots via the global, vaccine-sharing COVAX
facility. Top of the list are 400,000 health staff and other
essential workers.
Kenya plans to vaccinate 1.25 million people by June and another 9.6
million in the next phase, with more vaccines expected within weeks.
Patrick Amoth, director general at the ministry of health, was
applauded by workers at Nairobi's Kenyatta National Hospital after
he was one of the first to receive the shot.
"I am feeling great," he said. "The vaccine is safe."
Vaccinations should bolster an economy that shrank 1.1% year-on-year
in the third quarter of 2020 compared with 5.8% in the same period
the previous year.
Tourism has been badly hit, losing 110 billion shillings ($1
billion) of revenues between January and October of 2020.
'NORMAL OR NEAR NORMAL'
"Going forward with this additional arsenal, we only hope that
things will get better and we will go to normal or near normal if we
have a significant proportion of our people vaccinated," Amoth told
reporters before getting his shot.
[to top of second column] |
 Kenya was the latest nation
among various around Africa to receive vaccines
through the World Health Organization's co-led
COVAX facility which aims to secure about 1.3
billion doses for 92 lower- and middle-income
nations. WHO said on Thursday
that most African countries will kick-start vaccinations by the end
of March in a continent with bigger financial and logistical
challenges than others.
Some in Kenya expressed scepticism about the drugs.
The Catholic Doctors Association, for example, urged Kenyans not to
take it due to its experimental nature.
But the Catholic Church disagreed. "In principle we want to fight
COVID-19 and it is ethical to receive those vaccines," said
Archbishop Anthony Muheria, as quoted by Citizen TV.
($1 = 109.5500 Kenyan shillings)
(Reporting by Omar Mohammed; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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