• It has become difficult to acquire doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, after India banned exports.
• The Indian-based manufacturer said the earliest they can send 2.5 million second doses to Kenya is June.
Image: Handout
Kenya will buy millions of doses of the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for Covid-19, the Ministry of Health has said.
It has become difficult to acquire the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite Kenya ordering 24 million doses, after India banned exports.
The country received its first batch of 1.02 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in February from India through the Covax initiative, and an extra 100,000 doses donated by the Indian government.
India banned further exports on March 25, to force the manufacturer – the Serum Institute of India – to cater to domestic demand, resulting in a delay in global shipments of up to 90 million doses including Kenya's 2.5 million doses.
Last week, the Indian-based manufacturer said the earliest they can resume exports is June.
On Monday, the head of the Covid-19 vaccines rollout taskforce Dr Willis Akhwale confirmed the country is in advanced negotiations to buy the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. They will be available this year.
The country has also revised its vaccination schedule and now aims to vaccinate all 25 million adults by June 2022. That is 9 million more people than the 16 million in the previous schedule.
Dr Akhwale said Kenya is taking a two-pronged approach by procuring through the Africa CDC platform and negotiating directly with the manufacturers.
“Under the African CDC we are at very advanced stages and for us, the vaccines that are available there include the Pfizer, and we expect Johnson and Johnson later in the year to be available,” he said Monday.
Dr Akhwale said India is also struggling to get raw materials from the United States to make the jab.
“I know for AstraZeneca currently there are challenges but it is true we are looking at Pfizer, we are also looking at Johnson & Johnson and any other that may become readily available as long as it meets our condition that, one, it has WHO approval and second, it is locally registered,” he said.
He spoke during a media meeting organised by the Editors Guild and Unesco.
Dr Akwale said Pfizer is also preferable because it can be used to vaccinate children at least 16 years of age, who are considered superspreaders of the disease.
Currently, only the AstraZeneca vaccine has been granted emergency use authorisation in Kenya.
“The Pharmacy and Poisons Board is currently reviewing applications from Sinovac vaccine and I understand Pfizer is also preparing its papers. However, the ones that have already been prequalified by WHO are Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca,” he said.
Last week, the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization said an interim analysis of clinical trial data from Sinovac and Sinopharm – two Chinese Covid-19 vaccines – "demonstrated safety and good efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19 disease."
Sinovac and Sinopharm have been approved by Chinese regulators and have been exported to at least 70 countries. The WHO said it expects to approve them by the end of this month.
Russia's Sputnik V has not been prequalified by WHO as it is yet to submit critical data.
Dr Akhwale said Kenya is still engaging Gavi, who is leading the Covax initiative alongside the World Health Organization and Unicef, to unlock the stalemate with India.
He said they had confirmed that Kenya will receive the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine next month.
The country will receive 2.5 million doses and vaccinations will begin in early June if everything goes according to plan.
“We had planned to give the second dose after eight weeks because Covax had assured us we’d get the second doses in April. But they later communicated there would be a delay for one month. We are sure we will get them in May and I will even discuss with them today,” he said.
“We can stretch eight weeks to 12 weeks between the first and second dose.”
Dr Akhwale said to meet its 25 million adults target, the country must also expand its cold chain and construct new vaccine storage facilities in some counties.
Currently, about 40,000 Kenyans are being vaccinated daily in some 200 select facilities.
Dr Akhwale says, they would raise the number of facilities vaccinating people to 600 in June and later to 2,000.
“There’s a discussion on private sector involvement, but Kenya has decided because all these vaccines are new, we must be on the side of science. So all vaccines imported here must have the WHO emergency use authorisation,” he said.
The country has deliberately avoided creating a high demand for vaccines through mass advertisements because there are only a few doses available for key groups.
“In the next phase we will go into campaign mode and vaccinate at least 150,000 people daily,” he said.
According to the vaccine’s task force, the rollout has also been done carefully to avoid disrupting routine immunisations.
At least 18 million doses are given mainly to children in routine immunisations countrywide.
Data on Covid-19 vaccination is captured and transmitted through the Chanjo KE platform to facilitate the issuance of vaccination certificates as well as to help track doses at counties for quick restocking on depletion.
Private facilities that will be approved will also have to enrol on the Chanjo system.
Vaccination certificates will be issued after the second dose for those who receive the AstraZeneca jab.
By yesterday, 702,170 people had been vaccinated, according to the Ministry of Health.
Of the number, 397,539 are aged 58 years and above.
Among those vaccinated are 141,146 health workers, 106,147 teachers and 57,338 security officers.
According to the ministry, men continue to exhibit enthusiasm in the drive compared to women.
Some 393,261 males have been vaccinated compared to 308,526 females.
At the county level, Nairobi has the highest number of people vaccinated with 223,992, followed by Nakuru with 42,145.
Uasin Gishu is third with 35,543, followed by Kiambu (35,244) and Nyeri (25,345).
The counties with less than 1,000 people vaccinated are Lamu with 469, followed by Marsabit 427 and Tana River with 675.
The ministry said it will now use religious, political and business leaders to help address and boost Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in areas with relatively low numbers.
“Some of the counties with the least uptake have informed us there have been internet challenges. The ministry has now given them gadgets and airtime so that they can transmit their information to us timely.”
“So we may start seeing a little of more data coming in from them,” Dr Akhwale said.
(edited by o. owino)