The earliest Kenya can receive the Covid-19 vaccine is from the third week of February, according to projections given by Gavi.
The vaccine alliance said the World Health Organization must first grant the AstraZeneca vaccine emergency use listing, after reviewing its quality, safety, efficacy and performance data.
The process is already underway and is critical in ensuring that any vaccine procured through Covax is fully quality assured.
“A decision on this candidate is anticipated by WHO in the second half of February at the earliest,” Gavi said.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the only one to have received the emergency validation from WHO since the outbreak began a year ago.
Gavi said it has signed an agreement with Pfizer to receive its vaccine also, but this vaccine is unlikely to be supplied to poor countries.
Kenya has ordered 24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, enough for 20 per cent of the country’s population.
However, Gavi said it will initially supply just a few doses to cover frontline workers and people with pre-existing health conditions.
Gavi said it will next week indicate approximately how many doses each country will receive initially, to help them plan.
“This indicative allocation will provide interim guidance to participants – offering a minimum planning scenario to enable preparations for the final allocation of the number of doses each participant will receive,” it said in a statement.
Gavi further announced the signing of an advance purchase agreement with Pfizer for up to 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine candidate.
“We expect to be able to begin deliveries of life-saving Covid-19 vaccines February. This is not just significant for Covax, it is a major step forward for equitable access to vaccines, and an essential part of the global effort to beat this pandemic,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, which leads Covax procurement and delivery.
WHO boss Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the vaccines will stabilise health systems and drive the global economic recovery.
“The urgent and equitable rollout of vaccines is not just a moral imperative, it’s also a strategic and economic imperative,” he said.
“These purchase agreements open the door for these lifesaving vaccines to become available to people in the most vulnerable countries,” said Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
“But at the same time we are securing vaccines we must also ensure that countries are ready to receive them, deploy them, and build trust in them.”
Edited by Henry Makori
