Mombasa suspends Covid-19 vaccination as county runs out of doses
A nurse injects a second jab of AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine to a patient at the Coast General Hospital in Mombasa on June 9, 2021.
Mombasa County has suspended the Covid-19 vaccination process after the county ran out of doses.
County Health Communications Director Richard Chacha said new doses will be picked from the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) which has also run out of stock
“We have suspended Covid-19 vaccination due to inadequate vaccines. We are expected to resume the process on Monday after receiving another batch, Mr Chacha told Nation on Friday.
He said the vaccines had been depleted due to the high uptake of inoculation among residents. Those who were supposed to receive the second dose will be vaccinated from Monday.
By Thursday, 3,922 people had been vaccinated in Mombasa, with more men (2,091) receiving the jab than women (1,831).
Health workers
Over 29,417 have so far been vaccinated in the county. Those inoculated include health workers (4,209), those above 58 years (6,876), teachers (2,973), security personnel (1,617) and intersex (8).
Mr Chacha said the new doses will be taken from the Kemsa stores in Mombasa, which had also run out of stock.
“They will now be taking vaccines that are not being used in other counties such as the North-Eastern region where the uptake is very low. You are aware that the expiry dates are nearing,” he explained.
Mombasa officially rolled out the Covid-19 vaccine on March 9 with County Public Health Chief Officer Pauline Oginga being the first one to receive the jab.
The county has so far received 32,000 doses from the Ministry of Health to be administered to its health workers and other frontline workers. Each person will receive two doses in eight weeks.
Covid-19 cases
The vaccines are distributed at the Coast General and Referral Hospital as the pilot centre as sub-county hospitals such as Tudor administer the doses to residents.
Mombasa has been registering a slightly low number of positive Covid-19 cases in recent days. On June 9, only 17 people had been confirmed positive and no death reported.
Around this time last year, the county registered one of the highest number of positive Covid-19 cases and deaths.
