Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has expressed his reservations over the efficacy of an experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech saying he does not understand how it works.
The minister, who is not a medical expert, said he cannot comprehend how one will be injected with a “disease” to keep the virus at bay.
He was speaking on Wednesday when he appeared before the Senate’s Health Committee to give a status report on the fight against the pandemic.
“Yes we are hearing there is a vaccine…Pfizer say there is a vaccine but personally to tell you the truth, I have many doubts about it because they were talking about a disease [sic] that stops people from getting the virus, ” he told the Senators.
He added, “now, I would like to know how they knew in the first place that I was going to get the virus…we are talking about treatment when I have a virus…but when you tell me that I stopped you from getting the virus…how would you know I was going to get the virus in the first place? So for me I have reservations about it.”
Pfizer and BioNTech pharmaceutical companies from US and Germany respectively announced on Monday that the newly found vaccine has proven to be 90 per cent effective signalling a breakthrough in the search for a Covid-19 vaccine.
Read: Breakthrough As Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine Is Found To be 90% Effective
The firms noted that nine out of ten patients who got the vaccine were protected from the virus adding that the vaccine did not have major side effects on the trial candidates.
“Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent Covid-19,” said Dr Albert Bourla, the Pfizer chairman and CEO.
He added, “We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen.”
Read Also: Human Trials For COVID-19 Vaccine Set To Start As 40 Kenyans Volunteer To Take Part
The trial, the company said, will continue until there has been at least 164 confirmed cases.
Pfizer is expected to administer the jab to people aged between 16 and 85, in the US which has been one of the hardest hit countries.
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