Administration of Covid-19 jabs for health workers in Kiambu County started today with the devolved unit targeting 6,000 healthcare personnel in both public and private sectors.
The county received 13,500 among the one million Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines the country received last week making Kenya the first East African nation to get a shipment of the doses.
Kiambu Chief Officer in charge of health, Patrick Nyaga was the first person and medic in the county to get the dose at Thika Level Five hospital followed by other senior healthcare county officials.
Speaking after launching the exercise that saw tens of healthcare workers travel from various sub counties for the injection, Joseph Murega, the County Executive Committee member in charge of health said that unlike other counties, the exercise will be conducted at both Thika and Kiambu Level five hospitals due to the county’s large number of healthcare workers.
Murega warned against commercialization of vaccines insisting that no one, even medics in the private sectors should be charged for the doses which will be administered twice at an interval of two months.
The official warned that the vast county could be battling a third wave of the virus as it has continued to register increased cases now nearing 7,000.
He thereby cautioned residents against relaxing the containment measures imposed by the government among them wearing masks, regular washing of hands and social distancing saying that while the vaccines will help reduce the viral load, it is not a guarantee that its recipients cannot infect or get infected by the same.
While sharing his vaccination experience, Nyaga on his side dismissed as misleading, claims that the vaccines have severe side effects in the body of its recipients saying that while any chemical injection in the body of a human must have a reaction, the reaction is not life threatening.
He said that he was inspired to be in the front-line of being vaccinated after losing so many of his colleagues, classmates and loved ones to the deadly virus.
Nyaga said that private health facilities within the county will be required to sign forms available at the sub county level for approval before their staff are vaccinated.