Kenya has received the last consignment of the 817,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from the United Kingdom.
This boosts the country’s target of vaccinating 10 million people before the end of the year. As of August 5th, it was reported that Kenya has vaccinated 1,768,519 people.
The consignment of 407,000 doses arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Tuesday night and was received by the Acting Director-General of Health Dr Patrick Amoth.
Amoth said that the latest consignment will boost the ongoing vaccination drive even as he thanked the UK government, WHO, Unicef and other partners who are helping in the vaccine deployment plan
“The Ministry of Health has now received a total of 817,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine as a contribution of the British government in Kenya’s fight against Covid-19,” Amoth said.
He added that the country is expecting to receive 1.7 million doses of Moderna, 393,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in the next few weeks, and 1.8 million doses of Pfizer vaccine by next month.
UK Deputy High Commissioner to Kenya Julius Court said during the event that the donation was a testament to the cordial relations between Kenya and the United Kingdom.
“I’m delighted that the second shipment of our total donation of 817,000 Covid-19 vaccines has arrived in Kenya. We need to keep working together to protect ourselves and our families, and the best way to do that is the vaccine,” Court said.
Unicef Kenya’s Chief of Health Dr Yaron Wolman said the vaccines will help boost the country’s vaccination efforts at a time it is battling a surge in infections.
“No one is safe until everyone is safe, especially with new and more infectious variants of the virus emerging. Vaccine equity is essential to ensure that everyone at risk from Covid-19 gets vaccinated wherever they are,” he said.
Kenya has as of August 5th, 2021, a total of 1,768,519 vaccines had been administered across the country with total first doses standing at 1,084,013 while 684,506 second doses had been administered. The proportion of adults fully vaccinated in the country stood at 2.5% by close of Friday.
The first vaccination began on 5th March 2021 with county vaccinations kicking off on 8th of March 2021. The second dose vaccination began on 28th May 2021. The government is conducting the vaccination free of charge.
