Tuesday, March 23, 2021 – It is now official the Government of President Uhuru Kenyatta now wants to favour the wealthy and rich Kenyans in the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
This is after it opened discussions with Covax, a global partnership under the World Health Organization (WHO), which will see top private hospitals in the country buy Covid-19 vaccines for their wealthy clientele.
According to a senior government official, Kenyans who wished to pay for the vaccine would have the option in the controlled private market.
This will see top private hospitals like Nairobi Hospital offer the vaccine.
“Just like other vaccines like polio, we will allow private hospitals to offer it because the idea is to vaccinate as many people as possible.
“It will be necessary to regulate the vaccine and private hospitals will only be allowed to load a service charge for the vaccine,” the government official said.
The official went on to say that the process is very complex and guided by Covax.
“The discussions are underway on private hospitals buying and getting the jabs, but they are not straightforward because we must have an indemnity agreement with the hospitals,” the official said.
Kenya will be joining other countries like Pakistan in importing the vaccine for private sale.
This move will see wealthy persons who might not have been eligible under the government scheme receive the vaccine.
Pharmaceutical companies behind the Covid-19 vaccine are restricting sale to the private sector.
This has seen tycoons fly to the United Arab Emirates, where through connections, they have been able to access the vaccine.
Kenya has given health workers, the vulnerable and the elderly priority in receiving the vaccine and hopes to have 16 million people vaccinated in the next two years.
E! News Blog
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