Vaccination no-shows worry Kenya as virus tally mounts

NAIROBI, Kenya

About 100,000 people in Kenya have failed to report to hospitals for their second COVID-19 vaccine doses, authorities said on Tuesday.

The country of some 53 million has managed to fully vaccinate just 2.95% of its population so far, according to latest figures.

Some 2.77 million doses have been administered in the country, with nearly 1.96 million people getting a first dose and just over 804,500 being fully vaccinated.

The issue of people not reporting for second shots has been hampering Kenya’s vaccination efforts.

The proportion of people who have taken a second dose after their first is 40.9%, official data showed.

Willis Akwhale, head of Kenya’s vaccination task force, said about 100,000 more individuals have not reported for their second shots despite being informed of their scheduled appointments.

The lax vaccination coverage has left Kenya susceptible to the highly contagious Delta variant, with the Health Ministry warning last month that the country has entered a fourth COVID-19 wave.

The ministry reported 565 more infections and six fatalities on Tuesday, pushing the overall case count to 235,863, including 4,726 deaths.

The new cases were from a sample size of 4,494 tests, meaning the positivity rate in Kenya stands at a worrying 12.6%.