THE STANDARD
LETTERS
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Courtesy]
The news that Africa is gearing up to produce its own vaccines could not have come at a better time.
To use Raila Odinga’s words, Africa producing its own vaccines is a great step in the right direction. This would not only delink us from writing good literature on the noble innovations of vaccines only done by Western countries on our dissertations but would enable us to expeditiously solve eminent medical problems amicably without looking to the West as has become the norm.
While I would want to agree with Raila that Kenya can easily be the pharmaceutical and biotechnology hub of East Africa, I must as well reiterate that scientists must be given a free hand to do their work/research without political interference.
County Health Executive Clare Wanyama said the symptoms were overlapping in both diseases, and therefore during the pandemic, there should be high index of suspicion.
“Malaria is endemic disease in the region and because of increased numbers among those testing positive for the virus, Covid-19 is mandatory to avoid spreading the disease at community level,” said Wanyama.
She said the county is using Prevention, Retention and Contingency (PRC) and rapid antigen testing.
However, due to the high number of tests performed daily, the PRC machine requires regular maintenance and repair. It is currently not functioning.
Samples collected through target testing are taken to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) or Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) in Kisumu for tests.
Prof Matilu Mwau, the Deputy Director at Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), points out that Kenya might not achieve herd immunity soon due to the low numbers of people who have been vaccinated.
“We have not even vaccinated 10 per cent of our population. Also, nobody knows how much coverage of vaccination is sufficient for you to achieve herd immunity,” he said.
He noted that to be safe, a country should ideally vaccinate 100 per cent of the population.
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So far, by April 14, 2021, Kenya had vaccinated 569,244 people with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Dr Ahmed Ogwell, the Deputy Director of Africa at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) noted that Africa needs to vaccinate about 750 million people to achieve herd immunity. “We intend to scale up vaccination rollout for April, May, June due to availability of vaccines,” said Dr Ogwell.
Supermarkets selling contaminated pork and chicken, study warns
Wednesday April 07 2021
By GERALD ANDAE
Summary
New research finds the bulk of the contaminated meat on sale is under the retailers own brands compared with cuts from suppliers.
A significant portion of chicken and pork meat sold in local supermarkets is contaminated with bacteria, some of which could be harmful to humans, a new report by a UK-based World Animal Protection has revealed.
In the findings, released on Wednesday, the organisation says the bulk of the contaminated meat on sale is under the retailers own brands compared with cuts from suppliers.
Dr Victor Yamo, World Animal Protection farming campaigns manager and the lead researcher in the study, said that the presence of salmonella and shigella bacteria is worrying and efforts have to be put in place to cut on their levels.
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