Persons over the age of 58 years will be prioritized in phase one of the vaccination process, the Ministry of Health has announced.
This, the Ministry has revealed is due to the surge in covid-19 cases in the country as they account for 60% of recorded deaths.
“In view of this surge of the pandemic and in order to protect and save lives, the Ministry of Health has decided to immediately prioritize vaccinations of persons aged 58 years and above. This group of persons will now be a priority target group under the ongoing phase 1 vaccination exercise,” Willis Akhwale, chairman of the Covid-19 vaccine Deployment Taskforce said in a statement.
Covid-19 vaccination update:
Persons aged 58 & above have been prioritized in the ongoing phase 1 vaccination exercise, Dr Willis Akhwale, Chair Covid-19 Vaccine Development Taskforce. pic.twitter.com/VI8XQUu2gq
— Ministry of Health (@MOH_Kenya) March 25, 2021
Read: Covid-19 Fatalities Rise By 18 As 1,540 Contract Virus
Akhwale added, “This prioritization is also aligned to the WHO and National Taskforce on Vaccine Deployment recommendations.”
This comes as the Health CS Mutahi Kagwe revealed the positivity rate of the country is now at 22 percent, the highest the country has ever recorded.
“Our facilities may be overstretched but not overrun. On Jan 22, we had 27 cases in ICU. Yesterday, we had 121 patients in ICU, more on ventilatory support. On Jan 22 we had 1,553 patients, now we have 2,545. We can easily get discouraged. I want to assure Kenyans that we are still striving to get adequate ICU and isolation beds,” CS Kagwe said.
Read Also: No ICU Beds Available As 10 Doctors Admitted With COVID-19 – KMPDU
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) had ideally warned that there were no more ICU beds available in hospitals due to a surge in covid-19 cases.
Speaking on Tuesday, the union secretary-general Chibanzi Mwachonda further revealed that healthcare workers have not been spared as 10 are currently admitted in hospitals with covid-19.
“The rising numbers of infections have not spared healthcare workers. 10 doctors are currently admitted, ” Mwachonda said.
This, according to the union is detrimental in the fight against the pandemic as more healthcare workers are needed to enhance the fight.