Senators have asked the Health ministry to support county governments in the transportation and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.
The call by the Senate Health Committee follows revelations that most county governments were still struggling to collect their doses from the regional depots.
Lack of specialised cold chain freezers has made some counties to delay collecting their doses, a situation that has affected vaccine uptake in those regions.
Previously, such programmes were run by the national government but the funding has declined since the onset of devolution.
The committee chaired by Trans Nzoia Senator Michael Mbito toured the national vaccines depot in Kitengela to inspect the facility and the vaccination exercise.
“We know health is a devolved function but we want the ministry to realign their existing resources during this pandemic and assist county governments to transport these vaccines,” Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina said.
He said there was no reason as to why the county governments should come to the depot and collect vaccines yet we know the situation on the ground.
“For us to be sure that we hit that herd immunity soon, the ministry must up its game to be able to transport the vaccines from the national depot to the county governments,” Ole Kina said.
The ministry has accelerated the vaccines deployment plant with a target to vaccinate 5.8 million people by Mashujaa Day with a daily uptake of at least 100,000 vaccinations per day.
Deployment taskforce chairman Willis Akhwale said the country is currently doing 60,000 vaccinations per day.
So far, 6.5 million vaccines have been received in the country with more than 3.5 million administered to date.
The plan is to vaccinate 10 million people by December and the entire adult population of 27 million by the end of 2022.
“The plan is to build 25 county storage that can store this and have it in all counties in future. This is going to reduce the turn-around time from when a facility had to go and pick. Like right now a facility in West Pokot has to go to Eldoret to take it there,” Akhwale said.
On Wednesday the ministry launched a ‘Kuwa Shujaa pata chanjo tufungue nchi’ campaign in Kiambu that coincided with the launch of mobile vaccination outreaches in counties.
“I am sure we can afford 47 refrigerated trucks with the amount of money that goes to waste so I advise the ministry to sit down and look at what is happening,” Akhwale said.
Kisii Senator Sam Ongeri said the effectiveness and the potency of a vaccine become successful when all the environment is right.
Senator Mbito has however hit out at governors for their failure to support the vaccination drive with a disparity in vaccination programmes that have seen some counties reach up to 40 per cent of their target population with others having hit just one per cent.
“We will share with the counties, if money is the problem we will need to sit down with the governors and ask them how some counties are at 40 per cent vaccination and some are at one per cent only,” Mbito said.
The senators have called on the governors to mobilise Kenyans to come out in large numbers and receive the jab adding that with the availability of vaccines, mass vaccinations through outreaches is the only way to attain herd immunity.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
