Kenya receives 795,600 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from US govt

Kenya has received 795,600 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine from the US government to boost the ongoing vaccination exercise.

The vaccines arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Friday afternoon and are the first Pfizer vaccines to arrive in Kenya.

Another 1,236,690 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are due to arrive in the country in the coming weeks to complete the 2.03 million Pfizer vaccine doses the US government has pledged to donate to Kenya. A shipment of 245,700 Pfizer doses is expected in the country during the week of September 20 and the remaining 990,990 does at the end of September.

“The vaccines arriving today are the same safe and effdective Pfizer vaccines that have been used to vaccinate millions of people in the United States and around the world. We expect additional shipments of Pfizer doses to arrive next week and in the coming weeks,” said Eric Kneedler, the US Ambassador to Kenya at JKIA.

Nearly three weeks ago, Kenya received the first donation of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines from the US with the second shipment arriving in the country last week completing the 1.76 million donation of Moderna doses.

US President Joe Biden has commited to deliver over a billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to countries across the world.

The World Health Organisation has so far approved six COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, including all four now available in Kenya – Astra Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer.

“I would like to emphasise that all WHO and Government of Kenya approved vaccines are safe and effective,” said….

To enable the use of Pfizer vaccines in Kenya, UNICEF has recently procured 12 ultra-low temperature freezers and accessories with funding from the Government of Japan.

The freezers were intalled at the central depot in Kitengela and the eight regional depots with techinicians being trained on their maintenance and operation.

These ensure that the Ministry of Health can store vaccines that require very low temperatures, including the Pfizer vaccine.

As of Thursday, September 16, 2021, a total of 3,290,450 vaccines had been administered across the country. Of these, total first doses are 2,439,528 while second doses are 850,922.