The first outbreak of the Coronavirus disease was in Wuhan, China in November 2019 and Kenya recorded the first case on 12th March 2020. Since so many people were dying worldwide, there was a lot of panic because at first there was no cure or vaccines.
Thanks to the scientists and the World Health Organisation now we have several vaccines being manufactured including Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm BBIBP.
Since research is still ongoing, one has to continue following Covid-19 guidelines such as wearing masks, avoiding crowds, washing hands and proper ventilation indoors because it has not been proven that the vaccines can prevent infections and transmission.
However, there has been a problem where citizens go to the health centres for the first dose of the vaccine but when they go back for the second one they are told that the one that was administered the first time is not available and they will have to substitute with another one.
Medics claim that it is okay to mix the vaccines but Dr. Githinji Gitahi the Group CEO AMREF Health Africa revealed in an interview that he doesn’t think it is okay since the manufacturers have not given instructions to show that the vaccines can be used together.
That is also confusing because it is not clear which vaccine is suitable to be mixed with the other without causing complications since there are six of them. There are also no clear instructions on the gap between the mixing. For example, AstraZeneca dosages have a gap of 12 weeks, but if another vaccine is introduced we are not sure how long is the right time for one to be vaccinated the second time.
There is no policy to support the general science that it is okay to mix them.
Article first published on https://ke.opera.news/ke/en/health/0dcd53e1ee56ff21a356e6d349e0527e