NAIROBI – Kenyan Animal Medicine manufacturer Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute (KEVEVAPI) is under siege after being accused of manufacturing contaminated drugs.
An African Union Report QCR 849, authored by the Union’s Pan African Vaccine Centre, details the level of contamination of many of the products released by KEVEVAPI over the time period assessed by the report.
The matter has incensed some practitioners who want to call for an audit of the practices at the Institute. According to interactions within an online forum called The Kenya Veterinary Alumni (vetkenya@googlegroups.com) and Kenya-Kabete 1909 Vet’s Group (kvetforum), some Kenyan Vet Doctors citing these problems, have called for an overhaul of the Institute.
Henry Maduma Kamagy a Kenyan veterinary doctor, in a post in the groups, states that the institute has sold contaminated vaccines to unsuspecting farmers.
The incident forced the chair of Council of Governors (CoG) to write a letter advising all counties in Kenya to stop any further procurement of vaccines from KEVEVAPI until it clears its mess.
In the recent past, KEVEVAPI has been facing problems compounded by other reports that came out in September 2018, which suggested that President Uhuru Kenyatta, was fooled by the same institute to launch contaminated vaccines worth Kenya Shillings 92 million.
In one report, seen on the Kenyan online portal https://www.tuko.co.ke, https://www.tuko.co.ke/286397-uhuru-fooled-by-veterinary-institute-launch-contaminated-vaccine-worth-ksh-92-million-report.html#286397 which cites a report which states that a vaccine that had neither been registered nor the level of purity ascertained was launched by Kenyatta, the incident caused embarrassment to the head of state.
This came against a backdrop of a grant of Kenya Shillings 200 million, given by the Government of Kenya, to KEVEVAPI for producing vaccines for a range of Animal diseases, including Foot and Mouth, Contagious Bovine Pleuro-pneumonia (CBPP), Lumpy Skin Disease, Contagious Caprine Pleuro-pneumonia (CCPP), Peste de Petits Ruminants (PPR), Sheep and Goat Pox (S&GP), and Newcastle Disease (NCD).
The report indicates that “KEVEVAPI received a grant of KSh 200 million vide A.I.E serial No A741283 dated 23.08.2016 and Ref No D002806-011205-V2/2014/15 from Treasury through State Department of Livestock, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Development Vote.”
In addition, “all the 430,000 doses of vaccine expired with the institution losing about KSh 92,450,000. In addition, the institution suffered losses worth KSh 78 million due to contamination of vaccines. Disposal was not done as per the disposal Act 2015,” the report states.
In spite of failing quality control tests, KEVEVAPI continued to release the drugs on to the market.
There is a concern that Kenya’s veterinary practitioners shall shun the products from KEVEVAPI until their quality issues are addressed.
Efforts to contact the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KEVEVAPI for a comment were futile.
