NAIROBI, Kenya, June 9 – The Ministry of Sports has rolled out the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine with priority given to all Kenyan teams currently in bubble camp that will represent the country in various international events this year.
Olympics and Paralympics teams were the first to get the second jab on Tuesday with the WRC Safari Rally drivers and Secretariat as well as the World Under-20 teams set to receive will receive their inoculation from Wednesday at the Moi International Sports Center Kasarani.
Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and Heritage, Amina Mohamed was at hand to witness the exercise when she paid a visit to the Team Kenya at Kasarani and assured that the excise will be completed in time in readiness for the games.
“We want to thank CS (Mutahi) Kagwe for providing 2,000 vaccines and we have started today. We are hopeful that we will get another 1,000 so that all sports men and women that need to participate in competitions and championships qualification have all had their two doses. I don’t think there are many countries that can tell you
today that their athletes are having their second dose of vaccines,” CS Amina said.
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CS Amina posing in Boxing gloves at Kasarani Stadium.
Amina stated that the country’s leadership right from the top are interested in the proper preparation of the Olympics and Paralympics bound team to ensure that Kenya wins more medals at the Olympic games in Japan.
“As you know we are a sporting nation and therefore we must continue to prepare as if we are going to win all the medals that we need to win. All is in place to ensure that team Kenya travels to Tokyo in a wonderful environment but also having been well prepared for the games,” Amina added.
Olympics Kenya is working with the government in Team Kenya preparations with the State funding both the Olympics and Paralympics.
The bubble camp has been set up at Kasarani where currently, the Kenya rugby sevens men’s team Shujaa, the rugby sevens women’s team Lionesses, the volleyball team Malkia Strikers, the boxers ‘Hit Squad’ and taekwondo athletes are camping.
They will be joined by the athletics team once their trials set for June 17-19 in Nairobi are done.
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Sports CS Amina preparing to serve as she visited the Malkia Strikers in training
While on a tour in the bubble camp, CS Amina expressed her satisfaction with the set up. In all the qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Kenya has had COVID-19 free travel participation and involvement in the events and travel back home safely.
“We are fortunate because we have had a lot of practice. We had golf (Magical Kenya Open and Savanna classic), and we had bubbles that were COVID-19 free and we learnt a lot from that. We sent out our doctors to different events across the world to make sure that they learn and see what’s working and what’s not. What works we adopt and what doesn’t, we improve,” she said.
The Olympic Games scheduled for July 24-August 8 will be held in strict bubbles with limited local fans and no international fans.
The games were postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic that continues to disrupt events across the world.
