Nyeri County launches evening covid-19 vaccination program

In its bid to boost the Covid-19 vaccine coverage, the Nyeri county government has partnered with Amref Health Africa to roll out an evening vaccination program.

The drive dubbed ‘Moonlight Vaccination Program’ will run for the next 10 days where the county department of health will administer AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines from 3pm through to 9 pm. The exercise which started on Thursday evening is being carried out along Nyeri’s busiest street; Gakere Road.

Officials from the health department say they are planning to inoculate 2,000 residents in Nyeri town by November 14 when the program will be concluded.

“The team is targeting to administer over 200 jabs daily. This is in a bid to reach a larger population who cannot access the vaccine during the daytime due to commitments and can only do so after work,” read a statement from the health department.

The exercise is also targeting all people aged 18 years who have not been vaccinated.

Data released by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday this week shows that Nyeri has the second highest number of fully vaccinated population in the country.

According to the report, 84,760 individuals out of a target population of 510,028 have been fully inoculated. This represents 16.6 per cent vaccine coverage. Further, the report says; “152,094 have already received their first dose representing a 29.8 percent uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine.”

Nyeri has witnessed a five to 10 per cent drop in Covid-19 positivity rates as well as decreased Covid-19 admissions which has been attributed to the robust vaccination efforts that the county government has put in place.

While launching a mass vaccination drive on Mashujaa Day, Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga said that the county was adopting multiple strategies to attain 50 per cent vaccine coverage by December 2021.

“The strategies include increasing the number of fixed vaccination centres from 35 to 67, scheduled outreaches in all county health facilities that are not fixed sites and rollout in markets, bus stops, slums, churches and institutions of higher learning,” said Kahiga.

During the Mashujaa weekend drive which saw the health department mount make-shift vaccination centres in bus parks, eateries and markets, over 11,000 people were vaccinated.