UK to aid Kenya access Covid vaccine from next month

The United Kingdom will Kenya access and prepare to roll out the Oxford-Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccines next month.

UK Foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Wednesday that he will meet with Health CS Mutahi Kagwe to discuss the modalities of helping the country get the vaccines and start administering the jabs.

Speaking in Nairobi after a bilateral meeting with Foreign affairs CS Raychelle Omamo, Raab said he would discuss the matter with President Uhuru Kenyatta to firm up the details.

“This would ensure Kenyans are inoculated faster to save lives and ensure faster return to normalcy,” he said. The minister was in the country for a one-day visit.

Raab said his country had a direct national interest in getting Kenyans the shots, terming it part of their moral responsibility.

"It is not just our moral duty, but in the British national interest to see Kenyans vaccinated just as soon as we physically, logistically can," he said.

Kenya has been hosting the vaccine trials in Kilifi but it has not released the results of the study yet. After his meetings, the minister said, he would also inspect the vaccine trials in Kilifi.

The government has recently said it had ordered 24 million doses of the vaccine and that it would start delivery and administration in the second week of February.

He said they have worked closely with the ministry of health, giving it the requisite technical assistance to ensure the vaccine "gets to those who need it just as quickly as we physically possibly can.”

Kagwe had earlier announced that the state ordered the vaccines through an African Union initiative and that they will be imported directly.

African Export-Import Bank draft policy brief says that African countries will pay between Sh300 and Sh1000 per dosage of the Covid19 vaccine to access the 270 million shots secured this month by the AU.

The country has reported 99,308 cases of Covid-19 infection after 1.13 million tests. 1,734 deaths from the virus infections have also been reported.

Raab also announced a Sh1.3 billion help to the country in the fight against Al Shabaab and related fight against terror.

He has also announced that the UK will give Kenya Sh7.2 billion to fund climate change-related projects, especially in communities affected by vagaries such as drought and flooding.