Kenya shall on Monday, August 23, 2021, receive 1.7 million doses of the two-dose mRNA Moderna vaccine from the United States through the global COVAX facility, as well as 390,000 doses of the much-awaited single-shot Viral Vector Johnson & Johnson vaccine from the African Union (AU).
The J&J vaccine doses are among a cumulative 13 million doses that shall be relayed to the country in several consignments.
The arrival of these consignments shall be closely followed by the arrival of approximately 1.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine in September 2021 as a direct donation to Kenya from the United States.
The two-dose mRNA vaccine which according to scientists has an efficacy level of at least 91% against the Covid-19 virus, shall ship with its unique storage units capable of maintaining temperatures of -70°.
As a result of this genesis, an optimistic Chairman of the Vaccine deployment task force Dr. Willis Akhwale says the goals set by the country to vaccinate 10 million Kenyans by the end of 2021, and 26 million by 2022 are achievable.
“Currently, we are vaccinating about 40,000 individuals per day. We are increasing this to 80,000 per day, adding up to approximately two million in a month. This means that approximately eight million Kenyans will be vaccinated between September and December,” he told K24 Digital.
He says children between 12 and 15 years of age may begin to receive the Pfizer jab, as is currently being practised in the United States.
“If it is being done in the US, we will also adopt it,” he said.
Dr. Akhwale further reveals that the Ministry of Health is currently formulating a revised deployment plan that shall guide it on priority groups to be targeted during vaccine administration.
A section of health workers are currently being trained on the administration of the new vaccines and shall be deployed to counties to train fellow health workers.
Dr. Akhwale states that distribution of the vaccines to counties shall be done two to three days after its arrival, and the vaccination shall begin in the same week.
Recently, the Ministry of Health Acting Director-General Dr. Patrick Amoth cited the possibility of Kenya practising mix and match with the Pfizer vaccine.
This means that Kenyans who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and will not have received their second dose as the Pfizer vaccine administration begins might just receive it as their second jab at their dedicated time.
List of vaccines expected in the country.
407,000 doses of AstraZeneca – Tuesday, August 17, 2021
1.7 million doses of Moderna – Monday, August 23, 2021
390, 000 doses of Johnson&Johnson – Monday, August 23, 2021
1.8 million doses of Pfizer – September 2021
