On January 22, 2025, the Ministry of Health announced the disbursement of childhood vaccines after public hospitals went weeks without the immunization medicines.
In a statement issued by Director General of Health, Dr Patrick Amoth, 2.3 million doses of the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and 7 million doses of Measles-Rubella had been distributed to regional depots after arriving in the country on January 21, 2025.
“Additional shipments of Rotavirus, Pentavalent, and Oral Polio vaccines are expected to arrive by February to ensure uninterrupted immunization services. Caregivers are encouraged to visit health facilities to vaccinate their children on time,” said the Ministry in its statement.
The following are the first nine of 47 counties to receive the BCG vaccine doses:
- Nairobi- 450,000 doses
- Kisumu- 300,000 doses
- Mombasa- 120,000 doses
- Nakuru- 264,000 doses
- Eldoret (Uasin Gishu County)- 290,000 doses
- Kakamega- 276,000 doses
- Meru- 90,000 doses
- Nyeri- 90,000 doses
- Garissa- 120,000 doses
Additional vaccines are set to arrive into the country in February 2025.
In addition to the BCG vaccine, the Ministry also expects to soon dispatch 960,000 doses of oral polio, 1.2 million doses of Pentavalent vaccine, 2.3 million doses of Tetanus Diphtheria and 486,000 doses of Rotavirus.
As per the Kenyan vaccine schedule, new born babies are expected to receive BCG and oral Polio at birth then wait until weeks 6, 10 and 14 to receive 3 doses of Pentavalent, 3 doses of Pneumococcal and multiple Hepatitis B vaccines.
In the ensuing weeks and months, they are expected to receive other vaccines including flu, Measles-Rubella, Meningococcal ACYW Conjugate and Vitamin A.
For weeks now, Kenyan health experts raised concern over the severe shortages of infant life saving vaccines in the country’s government stores and public hospitals. Private hospitals faced the same fate too. This is in light of the fertility rate in 2024 in Kenya being between 3.17 to 3.2 birth per woman in 2024.
In mid-January 2025, it was reported that there had been a severe shortage of baby vaccines, antiretroviral drugs and condoms- exposing the country to health crises for weeks prior. This was the second time after a first severe shortage was revealed in May 2024 due to the country’s inability to clear unpaid funds to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Funds (UNICEF) to receive the vaccines.
In response, the Ministry of Health announced in June 2024 that it had procured vaccines to address the shortages and had dispatched refrigerated trucks to ensure the vaccines reached far flung health facilities and communities.
