The Ministry of Health has explained new guidelines for Covid-19 vaccine, even as the deadline for teachers and civil servants to get the vaccine or suffer consequences lapsed.
While appearing on Citizen TV on Monday, August 24, Ministry of Health Acting Director General Patrick Amoth explained that individuals would not be allowed to get their vaccines of choice.
His explanations come after Kenya received 880,000 doses of Moderna vaccine donated by the United States of America increasing the types available vaccines in Kenya to two.
Since the rollout of the vaccines, the country had been providing AstraZeneca to its citizens.
Amoth disclosed that if Kenyans were allowed to choose, the country would suffer from a superiority competition yet all vaccines were approved to serve the same purpose.
"We are not going to allow (people to choose) because we shall have a superiority competition. People will start saying, 'This one is better than this.' All pre-qualified vaccines by WHO (World Health Organisation) protect you from severe infection, hospitalisation and risk of mortality.
"If we make you choose and (on a particular day) we only have AstraZenenca, and your choice was Moderna, then our journey towards that hard immunity and recovering better will not be possible," explained Amoth.
The DG further noted that the country has made good progress in securing the health of its people and encouraged expectant women to take the jab.
The new guidelines came even as civil servants and teachers rushed to get vaccinated in line with government directive.
Civil servants had been threatened by the Public Service Commission (PSC) that they risked losing their salaries and allowances if they failed to get the jab by Monday, August 23. Teachers had also been given a similar deadline.
There were long queues across the country for desperate Kenyans seeking to get vaccinated.
"I am still here and I am not sure if I will get the vaccine because we have been told that they were only 160 doses remained," lamented a teacher in Trans Nzoia County.
Vaccination centers also experienced a spike in those seeking the jab with some institutions reporting a 60 per cent increase.
Below is DG Amoth's explanation:
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