7:00 a.m., April 9, 2021
Officially, only AstraZeneca vaccine is available in Kenya. Thanks to the Covax program, which makes it possible to distribute serums free of charge in poor or emerging countries, 1.1 million doses have been delivered to this country of 47.5 million inhabitants hit hard by the third wave of Covid-19. Objective, according to the Kenyan newspaper The Standard : reach 400,000 injections by the end of the week. But on March 24, an article in Daily Nation and spotted by International mail, sowed great confusion to the top of the state.
The executive was not aware of Sputnik V’s imports
According to this independent newspaper, the most widely read in the country, doses of Russian Sputnik V serum were imported into the country by a private company and at least one hospital started making appointments at a cost of 8,000 shillings per bite ( or about 62 euros). When questioned, an official from the Ministry of Health indicates … that he was not aware. According to The Standard, the national “task force” on vaccination did not know either.
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Dinlas Pharmaceuticals, the company concerned, promises that it has introduced Sputnik V to the territory with the approval of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, the equivalent of our National Medicines Safety Agency. The latter replied: he did issue an authorization for the Russian vaccine, but only for importation, not for distribution. “We are still in the process of developing the guidelines,” said a manager.
Circumstances that “reek of scam”
On March 30, a new twist: injections with Russian serum started. That day, a lawyer congratulated himself on Twitter, photo in support, to be the “first Kenyan to receive Sputnik V in Kenya”. That same day, Vice President William Ruto also tweets a photo of his bite. He does not say what vaccine he received, but the caregiver is the same. What to suggest that Ruto was vaccinated with Sputnik V. Especially since he had not participated, a few days before, in the vaccination session during which President Uhuru Kenyatta had received a dose of AstraZeneca.
COVID-19 vaccines are our safe and effective tools in saving lives and managing the disease. I encourage Kenyans to participate in this exercise to protect ourselves against the pandemic.
My family and I received the COVID-19 vaccination at the Karen Residence, Nairobi County. pic.twitter.com/tWmrojtgl5
– William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) March 30, 2021
On April 2, the Kenyan Ministry of Health finally banned the import, distribution and injection of vaccines by private companies, due to the risk of counterfeiting and because the WHO did not approve Sputnik V. At the same time, the Daily Nation publishes new information regarding “the circumstances under which 75,000 doses were shipped and cleared for use [et qui] stink of scam in the call for tenders. ”The two chambers of Parliament, the newspaper said, have launched investigations.
For The Standard, the confused arrival of Sputnik V on the territory comes “in the context of scandals of several billion shillings which have shaken various agencies of the Ministry of Health since the outbreak of the pandemic”.
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