- Kenya is expecting 1.7 million doses of Pfizer this month from the US government through bilateral donations.
- Pfizer needs to be stored at extremely cold temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius.
Kenya will be receiving 15 ultra-cold chain freezers from the US within the next two weeks as part of preparations for the rollout of Pfizer vaccines in the country.
The freezers from the UPS Foundation valued at more than Sh15 million, will be distributed to the central vaccines store in Kitengela and all the nine regional vaccines stores in the country.
Kenya is expecting 1.7 million doses of Pfizer this month from the US government through bilateral donations and another 271,440 doses allocated through the Covax facility.
The US government announced that the distribution of the doses is set to begin this month.
Pfizer needs to be stored at extremely cold temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius. With the freezers, the shelf life of the vaccines can be guaranteed for six months.
The specialty shippers can hold up to five "pizza box" trays of vials and be refreshed with dry ice every five days for up to 15 days to keep the vaccine at the right frozen temperature.
According to Health CS Mutahi Kagwe, UPS Foundation will manage the transport from the central store in Kitengela to the regional stores using special insulated devices from Pfizer known as soft boxes.
The soft boxes maintain ultra-cold chain temperatures using dry ice. The dry ice is needed to maintain proper temperatures in the thermal shipping container.
“It is important to note that once opened, Pfizer vaccines cannot be refrozen and when stored at two to eight degrees they must be used within 28 days,” Kagwe said.
“The ministry has put in place mechanisms to ensure there is no wastage of these vaccines. These mechanisms include the training of health workers on vaccine management,” he added.
From the regional stores, these vaccines will be transported to selected vaccination posts at temperatures of two to eight degrees centigrade as is common with other vaccines.
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that storage unit temperatures be monitored regularly and recorded at the beginning of the work day to determine if any temperature excursions have occurred since the last temperature check.
In order to ensure at least 10 million Kenyans are vaccinated by Christmas this year, the government resumed administering the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine across all vaccination posts.
Data from the Health ministry shows that as at July 30, a total of 1,723,727 vaccines had been administered across the country.
Of these, 1,062,413 are first doses while 661,314 are second doses. This means that the proportion of the Kenyan adult population fully vaccinated stands at 2.45 per cent with the uptake of the second dose among those who received their first dose being 62.2 per cent.
Those fully vaccinated include 115,540 healthcare workers, 95,918 teachers, 52,801 security officers, 204,513 people aged 58 years and above and 192,542 members of the public.
“In order to meet the targets, all vaccination posts under the national government have been ordered to open during the weekends while county governments have also been requested to ensure those within their jurisdiction also remain open,” Kagwe said.
“I have ordered a scale up of the vaccination campaign that must include radio and community sensitisation meetings. In order to quickly reverse the negative impact the pandemic has on our economy we need to achieve herd immunity. The best route to achieving this remains the increased vaccination of a majority of our people.”
On Saturday, Kenya received 410,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by the UK government with a further donation of 407,000 doses from the same UK expected to arrive in the country later through the Covax facility.
Through bilateral donations, the government expects an additional 235,000 doses of AZ from Greece and another 55,000 doses of AZ from Latvia.
-Edited by SKanyara