• Gavi spokesman tells the Star the only assurance is the vaccine will start being shipped around the world by end of March.
• MSF Kenyan representatives "deeply concerned" by India's decision, call for end to vaccine nationalism.
Image: REUTERS
Kenya is making a diplomatic push to access the AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine from India, hoping to override the ban on exports.
However, Kenya lacks a government-to-government agreement with India since it is relying on the Covax Facility, a vaccine access deal led by Gavi and the World Health Organization.
The vaccine is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII). India has banned export for several months so that it can stockpile for its own population.
Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is understood to have asked India to relax the ban.
Separately, Gavi, the Geneva-based alliance spearheading the Covax Facility, told the Star the only assurance they have is the vaccine will start being shipped around the world by the end of March.
Kenya had hoped to receive the first shipment at the end of this month.
“Our goal, supported by the Government of India, remains to begin supplying doses in the first quarter of this year so that all countries can have timely and equitable access to vaccines,” a Gavi spokesman told the Star.
Covax has an agreement with SII for 200 million doses – with options for as many as 900 million doses more – of either the AstraZeneca or Novavax Covid-19 vaccine candidates.
Trials for Novavax are ongoing and it has not been approved anywhere yet.
“These are exclusively for lower-income countries supported by the Gavi Covax Advanced Market Commitment,” the spokesman said.
Public health experts in Kenya criticised India’s ban, saying it would delay delivery to poor nations.
“This news is deeply concerning. It is yet another example of the nationalistic approach by countries worldwide during the pandemic, which will likely further delay access to vaccines in countries like Kenya, and other low income nations,” Rolland Kaya, Médecins Sans Frontières’ humanitarian representative for East and Central Africa, told The Star.
He called for a global solidarity approach to ensure equal access to all medicines, vaccines, treatments and innovations for Covid-19.
“Governments should act in the interests of people everywhere – the pandemic is not over until it is over for everyone,” he said.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was granted emergency use authorisation by the Indian government on Sunday on the condition that SII does not export any shots until the country’s vulnerable populations are protected first.
SII is the contracted manufacturer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and also the sole supplier to Covax.
SII CEO Adar Poonawalla on Sunday said the export of vaccines for Covax might not begin until March or April, because of the order by the Indian government.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca jab is the preferred vaccine for Kenya because it is cheaper and easier to handle and store.
It costs about Sh300 ($3) to Sh400 ($4) per dose, compared to Sh2,550 ($25)-Sh3,700 ($37) a dose for the vaccine developed by Moderna and about Sh2,000 ($20) a dose for Pfizer’s jab, according to figures reported in Europe.
(Edited by V. Graham)