- This is part of 1.7 million doses of Moderna vaccines that are expected to arrive in Kenya next week.
- Kenya will also receive at least 390,000 doses of Johnson and Johnson this coming week.
Image: REUTERS
Kenya is set to receive 880,000 doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from the US government on Monday.
The Ministry of Health CS Mutahi Kagwe announced on Sunday that the vaccines are expected in the country on Monday.
"The consignment is scheduled to arrive at JKIA at 6.15am," Kagwe said adding that he and the US ambassador to Kenya will receive them.
After receiving the consignment, the CS will also address the media.
This is part of 1.7 million doses of Moderna vaccines that are expected to arrive in Kenya next week.
Kenya will also receive at least 390,000 doses of Johnson and Johnson this coming week.
As of August 21, Kenya had received 2,730,100 AstraZeneca vaccines.
The ministry said out of the number of vaccines 2,374,197 vaccinations had taken place.
Out of this, 1,595,335 Kenyans have received the first dose while 778,862 got vaccinated for the second dose.
So far Kenya has vaccinated 2.9 per cent of the adult population against the disease.
By Saturday, total confirmed positive cases were at 228,363 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,305,988.
The country's fatalities rose to 4,467 after another 32 patients succumbed to the disease on diverse dates.
The rollout of the national Covid-19 vaccination campaign is being led by the Health ministry with support from WHO, UNICEF, Gavi and other partners.
As well as procuring and transporting Covid-19 vaccines, Unicef is supporting the ministry in the distribution of the vaccines, procuring, deploying and managing the vaccines’ cold chain equipment.
Unicef and WHO are also supporting the ministry with planning, technical support, capacity building, risk communication and community engagement.
Last week, the government received an additional 407,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated by the UK government.
The vaccines donated via the Covax facility and transported by Unicef arrived at JKIA, bringing the total number of vaccines donated recently to Kenya by the UK to 817,000 doses.
Kagwe said another consignment of approximately 400,000 doses from Canada and another consignment of Pfizer vaccines from the USA is set to arrive in mid-September.
This is an effort to achieve Kenya’s ambitious plan to have at least 10 million people vaccinated by December and 26 million by June next year.
Pfizer and Moderna have raised the prices of their vaccines in their latest European Union supply contracts.
The new price for the Pfizer shot was 19.50 euros (Sh2,514) against 15.50 euros (Sh1,997.57) previously.
The price of a Moderna vaccine was $25.50 (Sh2,769.30) a dose, the contracts show, up from about 19 euros (Sh2,448.63) in the first procurement deal but lower than the previously agreed $28.50 (Sh3,095.10) because the order had grown.
-Edited by SKanyara