Kenya receives 907,200 Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines

The Kenyan government has received 907, 200 doses of Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to boost the country’s vaccination campaign.

The Ministry of Health said on Wednesday the vaccines were donated by the Mastercard Foundation through the AVAT mechanism of the African Union.

MoH also confirmed receiving 7.5 million syringes of Pfizer vaccines in preparation for the 4 million vaccines expected to jet in the country soon.

So far, the country has about 10.7 million vaccines and is looking forward to more vaccines before the end of the year.

“Between now and the end of December the government expects 8 million more vaccines on top of the 10.7 million already received,” MoH stated.

The ministry further noted that it seeks to buy more doses of Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccines through the AVAT mechanism.

“The government is also procuring 13 million doses of Johnson and Johnson through the AVAT mechanism and in early December we expect another 1.6 milion of Johnson and Johnson," MoH noted.

This comes as a vaccination drive aimed to meet President Uhuru Kenyatta’s target of administering 10 million vaccines by the end of December 2021 is underway.

The Ministry still believes that the target is still on course and is imploring citizens to turn out for vaccination and advocating for mobilization of people by the county governments.

“We are urging the county governments to mobilize their people for this vaccination campaign. There are enough vaccines in the country and therefore we appeal to all eligible Kenyans to turn out at our approved sites and get vaccinated,” read the MoH statement.

A report from the Ministry of Health indicates that a total of 6,494,091 vaccines had been administered across the country as of November 23, 2021.