Days after the government prioritized persons aged 58 years and above in the ongoing phase one of the Covid-19 vaccination drive, the elderly persons are now scrambling to be inoculated for safety.
Hundreds of elders today thronged Thika Level Five Hospital in Kiambu County for the jabs after data showed that persons in their age bracket are at most risk of severe disease and account for 60 per cent of the deaths recorded in the country.
The hospital management was forced to reschedule immunizing a section of the elderly persons after they were overpowered by the huge queues.
The elders who spoke to journalists said they initially feared the exercise but after intense awareness and knowledge of how the virus has been behaving, they opted to go for the vaccines.
The elders led by John Kiongo from Mang’u village of Gatundu North dismissed as fallacious, claims by persons against the vaccination drive that the jabs have severe body side effects saying they are better vaccinated to develop immunity able to fight the pandemic that continues to weigh down economies across the globe.
The government’s initial plan was to reach front line workers, among them healthcare workers, security officers, teachers and terminally ill persons as they have a higher risk of contracting the virus based on the nature of their job and conditions.
The country is currently grappling with a third wave of the deadly virus that has seen an exponential rise in the number of hospitalizations and cases of critical care patients, a situation experts say is likely being fueled by the new variants.
Already, both public and private hospitals across the country are over strained and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds are running out forcing the government to re-introduce the home-based care for the management of asymptomatic patients.