Kenya kicks off prisoner vaccination drive targeting over 50,000

NAIROBI, Kenya

Kenya said Tuesday that it will disburse 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to its prisons as it began a five-day special vaccination drive.

According to Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe, the government is targeting to vaccinate over 50,000 prisoners at the country’s 133 correctional facilities.

In this regard, Kagwe and Interior Minister Fred Matiangi launched a campaign for inmates and staff at the Naivasha Maximum Prison in the town of Naivasha, 97 kilometres from the capital Nairobi.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Kagwe said the exercise will lead to the resumption of visits by families of inmates, which had been suspended with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are happy to contribute to a return to normalcy for inmates. They should be treated as other Kenyans,” he added.

Meanwhile, the East African country received 210,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine from the US.

So far, over 3.66 million doses have been administered. But just about 2% of the country's 53 million people are fully vaccinated. The government is targeting to inoculate at least 10 million people by December.

With 255 new cases, the total number of cases reached 248,770, including 5,116 related deaths.