The government has ordered 13 milliom vaccines from Johnson and Johnson to accelerate vaccination process.
Speaking in a live address to the country, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the first consignment is expected to be received in August.
“In the process of negotiating with this company, we managed to get a lower price. For the price of 10 million vaccines, we have negotiated for them to deliver 13 million vaccines,” he said.
He also announced an accelerated plan to ensure the 26 million Kenyan adult population is vaccinated against coronavirus by end of next year.
In the new accelerated plan, up to 10 million Kenyans will be fully vaccinated against the deadly virus by Christmas this year, while another 16 million will get jabs by mid-2022.
The accelerated vaccination will be aided by the acquisition of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine which requires just one shot.
“Using this vaccines and others in the pipelines, this is how we will vaccinate 10 million Kenyans by christmas 2021 and 26 million by the end of 2022,” he said.
The initial plan was to vaccinate 10 million adults by June next year.
According to experts, Uhuru said that they have built a capacity to vaccinate 150,000 people every day from August 2021.
Additionally, he said if a vaccine for under-age populations is registered by early next year, Kenya intends to vaccinate an extra four million young adults by June 2022.
He said with a vaccinated population of 30 million people, the government will achieve ‘herd immunity’ against the pandemic.
“And this is our intention for the next 12 months. Herd immunity can only be achieved through vaccination and vaccine education,” he added.
He urged Inter-Faith Council working with private sector and other civic associations to take up the vaccine education to be the central plank of the upcoming vaccination drive.
He said the nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew in the 13 Covid-19 hotspot counties
in the lake region will remain from 7pm to 4am until July 31, 2021.
The counties are Busia, Vihiga, Kisii, Nyamira, Kakamega, Kericho, Bomet, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay and Migori.
The 10pm to 4am curfew will be maintained for 60 days for the rest of the country.
Uhuru said in-person worship will continue at a third capacity, while political and public gatherings have been banned for a further 60 days.
The directive that funerals be held within 96 hours with 100 mourners continues; while attendees at weddings are to be no more than 100.
All entrants to Kenya must have a PCR certificate obtained no earlier than 96 hours prior to arrival.
Uhuru also announced government plans to import the Covid-19 unpackaged, to finalise the logistics of filing and packaging it in the country as a way of cutting waiting time.
“I have directed a multi-agency team to activate this plan and to focus not only on the Covid-19 vaccine, but on any other human vaccine needed in our region,” he said.