Kenya receives 880,460 doses of Moderna vaccine from US

Kenya’s portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines has continued to widen after a batch of 880,460 Moderna vaccines arrived in the country on Monday.

The vaccines which form the first batch of the two shipments expected to total 1.76 million doses from the US government arrived at JKIA at 6.15 am.

This is the first time that Moderna vaccines have been received in Kenya.

The vaccines were donated through the Covax facility and transported by Unicef.

The vaccines were received by officials from the Kenyan Government led by Health PS Susan Mochache and CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi.

Also present was US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Eric Kneedler, Unicef Representative to Kenya Maniza Zaman and World Health Organization Officer in Charge, Health System Cluster Lead Dr Mona Almudhwahi.

“This donation builds on the United States partnership with the Government of Kenya in response to Covid-19. These life-saving vaccines will fill an important need at a critical time in Kenya’s fight against this pandemic,” Eric Kneedler said.

The World Health Organisation has so far approved six Covid-19 vaccines for emergency use, including AstraZeneca and Moderna.

“We are very grateful to the US Government for this generous donation of Moderna vaccines. This will greatly support the ongoing rollout of Kenya’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign and help us reach the target announced by President Kenyatta to vaccinate 10 million Kenyans by the end of December 2021,” Mochache said.

“Vaccination is now open to all Kenyans over the age of 18. I would like to emphasise that all WHO and government of Kenya approved vaccines, including the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines, are safe and effective.”

The vaccines arrived through the global Covax initiative, which is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), working in partnership with Unicef as well as the World Bank, civil society organisations, manufacturers, and others.

Covax is part of the Access to Covud-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, a ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to Covid-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.

Edited by D Tarus