• Kagwe said the government had "challenges" in low-uptake counties where 200,000 doses unused.
• State plans to take them back and redistribute to areas where demand is high to help meet shortage.
The government will retake back Covid-19 vaccine from counties where update is low and redistribute to areas where demand is high.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said on Friday the government has had "challenges" in areas where uptake is low. About 200,000 doses are unused and some that have been distributed have not been administered.
"We have distributed to some counties that are slow in distributing and vaccinating," he said.
The government "cannot sit back and watch as vaccines expire," the CS said, adding, "Therefore, we must take them back and redistribute to areas where uptake is high."
He spoke during the launch of the renovated maternal High Dependency Unit and a 10-baby cot newborn unit at Kenyatta National Hospital – Othaya in Nyeri. The Sh16 million improvements were funded by the Safaricom Foundation.
The CS said 911,515 people have already been vaccinated and the number is heading to 1.2 million, to complete the available doses.
Of those vaccinated, kagwe said, more than 93,000 are teachers.
Schools are to reopen on Monday.
"It is not just teachers but also other people working in schools because they risk of being infected by children who get it but don’t show symptoms. But teachers get symptomatic," Kagwe said.
Despite the problems obtaining more AstraZeneca from India, which has been stricken by the Indian variant, the CS said all efforts are being made to obtain vaccines elsewhere.
Present were Governor Mutahi Kahiga, Deputy Governor Karugu, Othaya MP Gichuki Mugambi, National Assembly chair of the Health committee and Murang'a Woman Representative Sabina Chege, the KNH management board led chairman George Ooko and CEO Evans Kamuri, among others.
(Edited by V. Graham)