Kenya has given Sinopharm Group Co and Moderna Inc.’s (NASDAQ: MRNA) COVID-19 vaccines emergency use authorization, according to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board CEO Fred Siyoi.
Kenya targeting vaccination of 10 million people by year-end
Head of vaccine advisory teams Willis Akhwale said that the country would receive 2 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine. The first batch donated by China of around 200,000 shots will arrive in September. Equally, the East African country expected 1.76 million Moderna vaccine doses, with the initial 800,000 doses expected in Nairobi next week.
The government is increasing its vaccination efforts amid the increase in CIVID-19 infections driven by the delta variant. So far, the country has vaccinated around 2.8% of its adult population, and authorities are targeting vaccination of about 10 million people by the end of this year.
Besides the Moderna and Sinopharm vaccines, the country is also expecting around 393,000 of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine scheduled to arrive at the end of next week, with an additional 500,000 doses expected each month after that. Kenya had orders around 13 million shots of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. In addition, Pfizer will deliver another 1.8 million vaccine doses by mid-September.
Kenya expects 400,000 doses from Canada.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said that a consignment of 400,000 doses is expected from Canada next week. Kagwe was speaking after receiving 817,000 vaccine doses from the UK through the Covax facility.
Kagwe said, “I am aware that there have been concerns about the unavailability of vaccines at our various vaccination sites across the country. Some have confused this to mean there is hesitancy in vaccine uptake. Where supplies have been better, we have witnessed more demand and this is as it should be. With the recent ramped-up supplies, access to vaccines has greatly improved. It will get even better over the next few days as we expect more doses.”
