•The uptake of the jab slowed during the final month of the General Election campaigns and is yet to pick up.
•The lacklustre rollout is not due to vaccine shortage because Kenya has millions of doses nearing expiry.
Only two counties have vaccinated at least half of the population against Covid-19, the Ministry of Health reports.
The uptake of the jab slowed during the final month of the general election campaigns and is yet to pick up.
Data shared by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe shows only Nyeri (at 53.5 per cent), followed by Nairobi (at 52.1 per cent), have at least half of the population fully vaccinated
Kagwe said Nyeri has vaccinated about 272,731 people from a target of 510,028.
Nairobi, he noted, has vaccinated 1,590,581 from a target of 3,052,494.
“As of August 16, 2022, a total of 20,920,745 vaccines have been administered across the country,” he said on Wednesday.
He said the government is working towards vaccinating a targeted population of 27,246,033 people.
The lacklustre rollout is not due to vaccine shortage because Kenya has millions of doses nearing expiry.
“The proportion of adults fully vaccinated [nationally] is 34.3 per cent,” Kagwe said.
The sluggish uptake nationally means Kenya is behind its earlier target of vaccinating 70 per cent of adults before August.
Of the doses administered by August 16, 17,631,408 were given to adults aged 18 years and above.
“An additional 1,887,620 are doses administered to those between 15 to 17 years, 329,132 are below 15 years but above 12 years while 1,072,585 are booster doses,” Kagwe said.
Kenya started vaccinating its adult population against Covid-19 in March 2021 and its teenage population with Pfizer in November last year.
The bottom five counties are led by Marsabit, which has the lowest rate with only one out of every 10 residents being vaccinated.
The others are Mandera, Tana River, Wajir, and Isiolo, respectively.
Kenya started the administration of third doses as booster shots at the beginning of 2022, following global reports of waning immunity from Covid-19 vaccinations.
The country had planned to administer 4.2 million booster shots by June 2022 but has only done 1,072,585 so far.
The country also planned to fully vaccinate the entire adult population of 27 million people by the end of the year.
However, the country is doing better than most African countries, as the continent has an average vaccination rate of 22 per cent, according to the Africa CDC.
Acting director of the Africa CDC Dr Ahmed Ouma said two African countries have achieved a vaccination rate of 70 per cent, and six others have vaccinated between 40 and 70 per cent of their populations.
“Overall, less than 20 per cent of the people in Africa are fully vaccinated,” he said.
Ouma spoke during the first anniversary of their partnership with the Mastercard Foundation under the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative.
According to the WHO Africa Office, Covid-19 doses rose by 74 per cent in June 2022 compared to the previous month after a sustained three-month decrease between March and May.
This is due to mass Covid-19 vaccination campaigns in 16 countries in June.
World Health Organization regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said the uptick in vaccination coverage shows that African countries remain committed to Covid -19 vaccination.
“This is encouraging because vaccination remains the most effective tool in our response to Covid-19 on the continent,” she said.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)