Acting Health Director-General Dr. Patrick Amoth on Friday, March 5, became the first person in Kenya to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
Amoth took AstraZeneca vaccine, at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi in the full glare of the cameras.
“We will offer ourselves to be vaccinated today (Friday). Let us portray the correct message to the public,” he said.
Also vaccinated is Dr. Collins Tabu who heads the Ministry of Health Division for Vaccines and Immunization Programme (DVI). He was followed by a nurse at the hospital and Dr Collins Tabu (head of immunization and vaccine in the Health Ministry).
Those vaccinated were asked to rest for 30 minutes before being discharged from the hospital.
Following the launch at KNH, the vaccination exercise is set to begin in all county referral hospitals.
“It is our responsibility yo ensure all the health care workers get support. This may mark the beginning of the end of the pandemic," Health PS Susan Mochache stated.
The roll-out of the vaccination program was flagged off by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday, March 4. Uhuru assured that the jab had passed all the necessary tests and had the stamp of approval from medical experts.
Meanwhile, media personality Eve D'Souza also took to her social media pages to relay her personal experience after taking the vaccine on Thursday.
Souza stated that she did not experience any pain or side effects for the first five hours.
"Around five hours after the jab I started to feel: Pain and discomfort where the injection was given plus fatigue. I took 1000mg paracetamol which helped. In the middle of the night I woke up with join pain, mild fever and generally felt unwell," she stated.
"The key is to keep taking paracetamol every 6 to 8 hours for the first 48 hours. The discomfort typically lasts around 24 to 48 hours," she added.
