All licenses issued to private institutions for the importation of the vaccines have thus been suspended until further notice, the Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe announced on 2nd April, throwing private entities that had committed funds to the initiative into a spin and leaving a huge population of Kenyans at the mercy of government.  “The participation of the private sector in the vaccination exercise now threatens the gains made in the fight against Covid-19 across the country,” Mr Kagwe said said.

The direct acquisition of vaccines by the African countries through the AVATT initiative is part of the continental objective to achieve a minimum of 60% immunization of the African population, in order to eliminate COVID-19.

Covid-19 vaccine in Africa: Many African countries have expertise in conducting rapid and effective mass vaccination campaigns, often immunizing millions of people in a single week. In 2016, for example, 41,000 health workers and volunteers were recruited and trained to administer yellow fever vaccines to 14 million people in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in just 10 days.

Kenyans have expressed conflicted feelings toward the administering of vaccines and have relayed their concerns to governors who have in turn put the President on the spot. Governors implored President Uhuru Kenyatta and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga to receive the jab publicly to eliminate fears.

Kenya expects to receive 11 million additional doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, bringing the total number of doses expected to 47 million.

Kenya opted for the AstraZeneca vaccine over the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as it does not require complex cold storage facilities.