By Sharon Atieno
Kenya risks a vaccination crisis if the country does not honour its Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) co-financing pact, the Health NGOs’ Network (HENNET) cautions.
Co-financing means that countries contribute to the cost of Gavi-supported vaccines by financing some of the required vaccine doses. These vaccines protect against diseases like measles, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and rubella, among others.
Speaking during an Editors Guild on Reporting for Immunization and Public Health Care meeting in Nairobi, Dr. Margaret Lubaale, HENNET’s Executive Director, noted that Kenya is yet to fulfil its part of the commitment despite the deadline being set for 30th June. The country’s co-financing obligation stands at about US$ 12 million.
“If children are not vaccinated, they risk suffering from vaccine-preventable diseases leading to premature deaths and disabilities,” Dr. Lubaale said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that annually, nearly 30 million African children fall sick from vaccine-preventable diseases and a half a million of them die as a result.
These diseases include but are not limited to measles, polio, whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria, meningitis, yellow fever, hepatitis B, tuberculosis (TB), pneumonia, diarrhoea and cervical cancers.
This is not the first time Kenya has fallen behind in realizing its co-financing commitment. In 2024, there was a countrywide shortage of several childhood vaccines, including Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), Measles, Polio, rotavirus, and tetanus vaccines. These give newborns protection against six killer diseases of childhood: TB, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and measles.
“As Kenya is expected to transition from GAVI immunization financing support by 2029, the government investment in vaccination should increase,” Dr. Francis Omondi, Hennet Kenya’s consultant, said, noting that the funding has been unstable and moving toward a low trajectory.
Dr. Omondi observed that Kenya’s national budget allocation for immunization for the financial year 2021/2022 rose to Kshs. 14.3 billion but fell to Kshs. 5.2 billion for the financial year 2022/2023 and is at Kshs. 4.6 billion for the financial year 2024/2025.
With GAVI set to exit due to Kenya becoming a lower-middle-income country, the immunization cost projection is set to rise from USD 10 million in 2023 to USD 38 million by 2029, he said.
Despite this, an assessment of government spending on vaccines accounts for just 0.5 percent to 1 percent of Kenya’s current health expenditures and 1 percent to 2 percent of domestic general government health expenditures.
The vaccination programme is largely funded by GAVI, development partners and the private sector.
The experts called for increasing domestic vaccine financing by integrating immunization financing into health insurance, engaging in public-private partnerships, using tax-based financing, and regional collaboration.
