Status update December 2021 – Kenya expedition hangs in the balance

E-mail to the team:

Dear Kenya expeditioners and partners,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. 19 (out of 24) have replied. 9 do not want to defer (4 do), 3 want to defer if there is any quarantine at either end, 2 are undecided and 1 does not mind either way. Nobody has deferred already.

In some encouraging news, there are early indications that three Biontech vaccine shots provide ‘significant’ protection against omicron and that boosters are the way out of variant trouble. Further clarity should emerge in the next two to three weeks.

My decision for now is therefore to wait for another 3.5 weeks until Friday, 7 January at the latest to make a final decision on whether to run the expedition or not. Please do not make any balance payments until that decision is made and ignore the 3 January deadline on your invoices. Please also make sure you obtain adequate insurance cover.

It is extremely likely that we will require everyone to have had three vaccine shots, with the last not older than six months by the time your expedition ends and at least 14 days before your expedition starts. This should give you plenty of time to sort out your booster vaccinations between now and when you start your expedition.

Please feel free to continue to engage, ask further questions and share your news and opinions. We will also provide updates as necessary and will get back to you by 7 January at the latest, if not before.

Have a great Christmas and all the best for 2022. Stay healthy and hopefully we will see you all in Kenya.

Regards

Dr. Matthias Hammer
Executive Director