Early Wednesday, Kenya got over one million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine from the global COVAX factory. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) local office reported the delivery on Twitter, saying the 1.02 million doses arrived on a Qatar Airways flight at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Frontline staff such as health care practitioners, teachers, and security personnel would be among the first to benefit from the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, according to the Ministry of Health.
Out of 5,550 people screened in 24 hours, 345 people had been diagnosed with the coronavirus as of Tuesday. The country’s total number of confirmed cases now stands at 106,470. The cumulative number of tests performed so far is 1,306,601. Another 143 people have survived, taking the total number of people who have recovered to 86,860, while four patients have died from the disease, bringing the total number of people who have died to 1,863.
There are currently 378 patients admitted to health facilities throughout the country, with 1,494 patients receiving home-based isolation and treatment. There are 58 patients in intensive care units (ICUs), with 23 on artificial ventilation and 29 on supplemental oxygen, and six on observation.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and UNICEF Representative to Kenya Maniza Zaman and World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Kenya Dr Rudi Eggers received the batch of the vaccines.
Kagwe expressed himself saying “This is a historic day for Kenya, marking an important milestone in our fight against COVID-19, I would like to thank UNICEF, WHO and GAVI for their support in procuring and transporting these life-saving vaccines and therefore the Kenyan people for his or her cooperation over the past 11.5 months.”
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Kagwe said the arrival of the vaccine marks a crucial milestone within the war against the pandemic, “We are fighting the pandemic with rubber bullets.But what we’ve acquired today is equivalent, metaphorically speaking, to bazookas and machine guns within the fight against the pandemic.”
Data source: Anadolu Agency and Capital FM