14 covid 19 infested counties under the Lake Region Economic Bloc led by Kisumu, Migori and Vihiga have sought the government's permission to directly import vaccines.
The counties have in recent times been severely affected by the virus with Kisumu, in particular, reporting a high number of cases of the Indian variant.
File Image of CS Mutahi Kagwe
On June 14th 2021, Kisumu County Health cabinet Secretary Boaz Nyunyo reported that the county's positivity rate was 28.4 % while the rest of the country only had a 9.4% positivity rate.
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This was exactly two weeks after the National Government led by President Uhuru Kenyatta converged in the lakeside city for Madaraka day celebrations on June 1st.
With 13 of the 14 counties now placed under stricter Covid containment measures, the regional bloc is seeking to go further and get and on their own vaccines.
The country has been experiencing a shortage of vaccines with most people visiting hospitals getting turned away.
On Monday, June 21st 2021, Kenya received a donation of 357,800 AstraZeneca vaccines from the Kingdom of Denmark.
This is however a drop in the ocean with barely 200,000 Kenyans having received their second dose.
The Lake region economic block is one of the most densely populated regions in the country with 14 million people.
The recent donation would barely scratch the surface even if all the doses were channelled towards these counties.
