MoH: Kenya to receive 4.5m doses of assorted COVID-19 vaccines by mid September

Kenya expects to receive some 4.5 million COVID-19 vaccines by mid September to bolster inoculation efforts in the country, the Ministry of Health has said. 

The Health Ministry officials led by Dr Willis Akhwale, the chairperson of the task force on vaccine deployment held a media round table on Wednesday, on the vaccine deployment plans.

By August 21, Kenya had received approximately 3.6 million doses of both the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines and Moderna, according to Dr. Akhwale.

In addition, the country anticipates 1.7 million doses of Pfizer vaccine by mid-September, 2 million doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine in September, and 893,600 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine between August and September.

The Sinopharm vaccine has however not been licensed for administration to persons  above 60 years.

According to the Ministry of Health, the government will be the sole importer of vaccines.

“The only importer and distributor is the government, the gov’t will facilitate the vaccine procurement even for the private sector,” Dr Willis Akhwale said.

While urging Kenyans to get the vaccines, Ministry officials stated the bulk of recent deaths had been among elderly individuals aged 60 and over, followed by those aged 50 to 59.

Data from the Ministry also reveals that the disease is affecting more men than women in the country.

“Male are prone to go to areas where transmission occurs   lock themselves in place to drink to beat curfew hours,”  Dr Akwale said.

Kenyans have also been urged to get the available vaccines as waiting for their vaccine of choice may be an exercise in futility. 

“If you wait for your vaccine choice, you may wait until you die..I know that is what is happening,” Dr Akhwale added. 

Dr. Joseph Sitienei, Head of the Department of Health Sector Monitoring also urged those who have not received their second doses to do so. 

So far, about 3 percent of Kenya’s population has been fully vaccinated against the COVID.19.

“Some people may get the 1st jab and disappear,” Dr. Sitienei said “We are going to track those who have not gone for 2nd dose…one jab is not enough.” 

The country hopes to vaccinate at least 10 million adults by December.