Private sector employees and their families can now get the Covid-19 vaccines.
This is after the Kenya Private Sector Alliance outlined 55 locations where Covid-19 vaccination will be done.
The sector launched the first phase of the vaccination on Wednesday in a move aimed at boosting government efforts for the country to attain herd immunity.
The vaccines will be administered with the help of seven hospitals approved by the Health ministry.
They include Avenue Hospital, Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital, Meridian Hospital, MP Shah, Metropolitan Hospital, the Karen Hospital and Nairobi Women’s Hospital.
“Some 263 companies have registered to be part of phase 1 and that is about 200,000 vaccines. In the last two days alone we already had 3,000 who had been vaccinated and so we hope by the next two weeks we would have done 60,000 and that is Nairobi before we move to the other counties,” Kepsa CEO Carole Kariuki said.
The first phase will take place on different days starting September 13 through to October 8.
According to Kepsa, the doses are expected to be administered at designated business premises of member organisations grouped per hospital for efficient logistics, with some of the participating member organisations allowed to host the vaccinations over the next four weeks.
They include I&M Bank, Simba Corporation, Ushuru Pension, Deloitte, CarePay, ICEA Lion, Sameer Africa, KCB, PKF Foundation, NBK, Cooperative Bank and Eco Bank among others.
“The more people are vaccinated the quicker we can get back to doing business so the more places we are able to allow vaccination to be accessed will definitely ensure we do move towards herd immunity,” Kepsa chairperson Florence Mutahi said.
“This is only the beginning. This is phase one and we are appealing to the rest of the private sector, any company that would like to join phase two, to come forward so that we continue helping everybody get towards herd immunity because that is the only way we can go back to normalcy,” she added.
The private sector has so far mobilised close to Sh1 billion in preparation for procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.
The funds are to be deposited in an account and the government will facilitate the procurement of vaccines.
The ministry will be in charge of storage and distribution while the administration will be done in collaboration with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council.
On arrival in the country, the vaccines will go to the Kitengela vaccines store where the private sector players will have to arrange for the vaccination exercise.
“We do intend to conduct the vaccination in the private sector in phases; we have just commenced on the first phase. We have good reception, good numbers coming in and we are optimistic that we are going to hit our target,” Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi said.
Edited by Henry Makori
