Kenyans online have reacted angrily after the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that it had formed an oxygen taskforce to deal with oxygen shortage in Kenyan hospitals.

According to the Mutahi Kagwe-led ministry, the Taskforce is working on a Master plan and assessing the infrastructure and economies of scale per hospital to address the situation.

“The demand for oxygen is high because of the #COVID-19. but we are working with partners and suppliers to address the situation,” posted the ministry on Twitter.

MoH added, “Oxygen is an essential commodity in our drug list. Although we have oxygen plants across the country the oxygen is not sufficient.”

MoH said the Oxygen Taskforce identified maintenance, operations and piping as the key challenges and is working with suppliers, World Bank and the France to address them.

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The Health Ministry at the same time said it is monitoring adverse effects of the Covid-19 vaccine even as it noted a decline in hospitalization, particularly among children.

The ministry said majority of the adverse effects of the jab are mild, such as fever and headache, assuring those who got the first Astrazeneca jab they would get the second shot.

The government targets to vaccinate more than 400,000 people by May 5 ahead of the rollout of the second doses across the country.