NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 10 – The Ministry of Health on Friday received 1.17 million additional doses of the Johnson and Johnson doses from the United States government.
Another 1 million doses of the Pfizer vaccines were expected on Saturday bringing the total number of COVID-19 jabs donated by the United States to 6 million. A total of 22,280,820 vaccines have been received in the country through the COVAX facility with an estimated 8 million of them utilized.
The consignment of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines was received at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the National COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment and Vaccination Task Force Chairperson Dr Willis Akhwake.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Health on Friday quoted Akhwale as having thanked the US government for supporting Kenya’s efforts towards accelerated vaccination “in a bid to have herd immunity to curtail the spread of the virus”.
He noted that the vaccine was easier to store since it could be kept in normal refrigerators ass opposed to Pfizer which require cold chain capacity infrastructure in the form of ultra-modern deep freezers with the ability to meet -70-degree conditions.
Akhwale assured the public of the safety of all deployed vaccines saying the health ministry was keenly monitoring the shelf life of donates vaccines.
He said the Pfizer vaccines expected on Saturday have a shelf life of nine months.
The National COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment and Vaccination Task Force maintained that as a precautionary measure, the ministry had resolved to have vaccines with a minimum shelf life of three months.
The taskforce commended the hospitality sector for taking heed to a government directive to ensure those who access hotels after December 21 are fully vaccinated.
Kenya is targeting to have 10 million adults fully vaccinated by December 25.
The country is however lagging behind its target having dispensed 7.9 million vaccines with only 3.1 million people fully vaccinated.
In a bid to boost vaccine uptake, the health ministry has cleared the use of the Pfizer vaccine on children aged 15 years and above after clearance by the World Health Organization.
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