350,000 Covid vaccine doses to arrive from Denmark today

At least 350,000 more doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are expected to in the country today.

The donation from the Danish government is to land at JKIA at around 9pm, according to a source in government aware of freight details.

The doses will boost the second inoculation exercise that commenced late last month. They will be delivered by Unicef to the Health Ministry before being distributed to regional vaccine stores for further distribution to the counties.

They will be administered to those who have already got the first dose, with healthcare workers prioritised.

As of yesterday, only 0.7 per cent of adults in the country had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 since the exercise commenced.

Data from the Health Ministry show that 186,966 Kenyans have received their second dose, of which 51,400 are healthcare workers, 50,902 are people aged 58 years and above, 21,434 are teachers, 13,600 security officers and 49,630 from the rest of members of the public.

On the other hand, 994,622 people have been reached with the vaccine.

“The uptake of the second dose among those who received their first dose is at 18.8 per cent, with the majority being males at 56 per cent, while females are at 44 per cent,” Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said.

Denmark said it was donating the vaccines to help close the gap on vaccine access in Kenya and to add to global efforts of having more people vaccinated. 

“International solidarity is crucial in a pandemic—no one is safe unless everyone is safe,” Danish Ambassador Ole Thonke said.

This is in addition to the 72,000 doses received from South Sudan. The shelflife of the doses from Denmark will end on July 31.

Kenya received 1.02 million doses of the AZ vaccine from the Covax facility in March, with the second consignment that was expected in the country in April having delayed following global supply chain challenges.

The government has reaffirmed its commitment to source additional doses in a plan to ensure at least 500,000 Kenyans are fully vaccinated. To attain herd immunity, at least 60 per cent of the population should be fully vaccinated.

“The most important thing right now is to ensure those who got the first dose get the second so the ones we are waiting for are the AZ,” Health PS Susan Mochache said.

The government rolled out the second dose of the Astra last month after the 12-week waiting period recommended by the World Health Organisation elapsed.