Invest in Covid-19 jab, save lives

The Ministry of Health needs to change its gears now to save lives, livelihoods and open up the country to tourists and investment. Kenya has been placed on the red list by many countries and it will not be coming off it without concerted efforts and intensive programme to fight Covid.

Statements from the ministry on the numbers of those infected and the ones that have died from the disease has become a mechanised exercise without plan B, which should be about vaccinating the population as fast as possible to counter the spread of coronavirus and its variants.

The countries that are opening up have had intensive campaigns to vaccinate their populations against Covid-19. It’s no wonder that they strive to keep citizens from countries like Kenya away from their borders to protect its vaccinated population and economy. One hears of allegations of racism, especially if the order came from the West, but I disagree.

Red lists are practical steps that need to be taken by countries that have worked hard to protect their citizens. We can achieve that success if we put our mind to it and stop wasting time on politics. It’s also unfair to blame wananchi for spreading the disease when politicians gather them at illegal rallies for selfish interests.

Fight diseases

Latest Covid-19 reports in Kenya are grim. The positivity rate has been going up, and that is becoming a concern. The struggles Covid-19 patients and families go through are even more harrowing. Every expense related to the disease is wiping away family finances as hospitals, including public ones, take advantage of the pandemic to benefit financially, something that’s not only ethical but also immoral.

Covid-19 won’t go away on its own accord. Vaccines have been proven to reduce the number of those infected by the disease and those dying from it. No vaccine would offer 100 per cent protection but it is better than having no protection at all.

According to the scientists, vaccines help to ‘prepare’ our immune system to fight diseases. A number of Covid-19 vaccines have been tested and found safe with high enough efficacy to protect the adult population against the disease.

Vaccine donations to Kenya have helped in partially vaccinating the population but the government needs to do its part and meet the donors half-way by buying the balance of the vaccines so that as many adults as possible get their two doses in a timely fashion.

We’re taking loans to pay for things unrelated to the pandemic. The government should instead be investing in vaccines to fight Covid-19 and get the country back on its feet.

Most of our citizens live in poverty and in overpopulated low-income areas. Our communal existence in multi-generational homes is an incubator for the disease. It’s harder in such scenarios to stop the spread of Covid-19. The poorest in Kenya are at the highest risk from the disease and the most likely to die from it due to lack of care as public hospitals run empty on crucial resources such as oxygen, ICU beds and even PPEs for the medics.

Kenya’s economic recovery, like those of other countries, is dependent to a large degree on the country’s recovery from challenges posed by Covid-19. Human resource that is being depleted by the disease can now only be saved by intensive vaccination programme. Vaccinated population in Kenya are the same lot that will be queuing up to vote and politicians dragging their feet on vaccination but focus on political campaigns instead should remember the votes come from the citizens they ignored to help. A pandemic is the time for leaders to put their heads together to find a quick resolution to the problem than choose to campaign for political seats.

Immunity

What the country desperately needs now is herd immunity. Something World Health Organization defines as ‘population immunity’ which can only be achieved by vaccinating as many in the population to stop Covid-19 from spreading.

‘Herd immunity against Covid-19 should be achieved by protecting people through vaccination, not by exposing them to the pathogen that causes the disease.’ Early political campaigns became one of the super-spreaders as politicians gathered masses of people irresponsibly despite a ban on meetings. The second reason is unvaccinated population.

The third reason is ignorance. There are many Kenyans who still lack the capability to understand the importance of Covid-19 vaccine. Superstitious beliefs around the disease, vaccine and reliance on traditional herbs is still prevalent in the current pandemic. These are things that the government needs to take cognisance of and educate the population on the benefits of vaccine to increase its uptake.

There are many lives that could have been saved from Covid-19 had the country been more proactive on the issue of its vaccine programme against coronavirus. It’s time to invest in vaccines and ramp up its use to protect the population and the economy.

[email protected]. @kdiguyo