By David Maina and Anne Juma
Kenya’s Ministry of Health (MoH) has set aside Shs 1.25 billion for the replenishment of routine childhood vaccines to address ongoing nationwide shortages.
In a press release sent to media houses by the principal Secretary for state department for medical services, Harry Kimtai, MoH confirmed receiving over 8 million doses of various vaccines which include 1,209,500 doses of measles Rubella, 3,032,000 doses of oral polio(bOPV), 1 million doses of Tetanus-Diphtheria and 3,129,000 doses of BCG vaccines.
“We are pleased to announce the receipt of these vaccines which had reached critically low levels in the country and therefore these vaccines are currently being processed for urgent distribution to the nine regional vaccine stores across the country,” PS Kimtai’s said.
Last month, Kenya Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s) in the health space decried stock outs and shortages of supplies of childhood vaccines that prevents the deadly rotavirus infection in children (Rota Virus), crippling and life-threatening disease prevented by oral polio vaccine (OPV), BCG vaccines the one that fights tuberculosis and measles -rubella.
Ministry of health has also committed to fast-track vaccines processing, distribution and logistics to the nine regional vaccine stores across the country by engaging additional cold storage trucks to ensure timely distribution.
“To speed up the vaccine distribution process, MoH has further engaged additional refrigerated trucks to ensure vaccines have reached health facilities and communities across the country by the second week of June 2024.”
PS Kimtai further called for collaborative efforts between healthcare workers and community health teams to ensure all children who had missed their vaccinations get vaccinated in order to catch up on their immunization schedule.
“With the arrival of the vaccines, we therefore urge all caregivers to bring their children back to the health facilities for immunization as vaccine supply has now normalized in the country.” Added the PS.
CSO’s in their earlier statements attributed the vaccine shortages to recent cuts of the immunization budget Line (0410040), during the supplementary budget saying the cut made government’s funding for vaccination programs and healthcare infrastructure insufficient to meet the needs of the population, which contributed to the vaccine shortage and weak healthcare infrastructure.
They explained that the recent cuts of the immunization budget during the supplementary budget exacerbated the existing problem of low delivery of the immunization program therefore making it difficult to meet the requirements of accelerated transition from Gavi funding, in the context where only 40 percent of the counties had immunization budget lines by 2019.
Civil societies also raised concern that the budget cut affected procurement of immunization supplies (injection devices and incinerators) as well as financial and logistics support to ensure effective delivery of vaccines to the last mile is achieved.
However, while issuing the statement, PS Kimtai stressed that MoH will continue to engage the National treasury to ensure increased and dedicated resources are allocated to the immunization program, to warrant stable vaccine supplies with the aim of mitigating vaccine shortage crisis as well as guarantee sustainable financing for immunization and universal access to vaccines.
Furthermore, the PS applauded the quick intervention of the state department of medical services, National vaccines and immunization program as well as UNICEF’s supplies division for their swift response to distribution of vaccines amidst the vaccine shortage crisis.
