Private sector ready for Covid vaccines import ahead of single-shot Johnson & Johnson arrival on Friday

The private sector can now proceed with the Covid-19 vaccines acquisition process after the structure of participation was completed and an account opened at the Central Bank of Kenya to that effect.

Already, Sh240million has been paid to the account and the money wired to the African Union.

At least 240,000 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccines are expected to arrive in the country next week.

This is the final process in discussions that have been going on between the Kenya Private Sector Alliance and the government for months that saw the memorandum of understanding finalised paving way for procurement of Johnson and Johnson vaccines.

At least 263 companies have already registered and committed their payments towards this effort according to the KEPSA data.

The initiative is open to all private sector companies.

The vaccines will go towards the vaccination of employees in the sector, their families, and some other members of the public to complement the government's efforts.

“We now have a structure of the participation by the private sector, their account at the Treasury has been opened they can now actually proceed to put in money and the process of supplying private sector with vaccines will start,” Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said.

“There will be no sale of vaccines, the private sector participation is through the Ministry of Health. They simply want to support the efforts of the government so that they can also be players and I want to ask that those others who have not participated and can do so,” he added.

The private sector has so far mobilised close to Sh1 billion in preparation for procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.

The funds are to be deposited in the opened account and the government will facilitate the procurement of vaccines by submitting the procurement.

On arrival into the country, the vaccines will go to Kitengela vaccines store where the private sector players will have to arrange for the vaccination exercise.

KEPSA CEO Carole Kariuki has noted that the sector is working closely with the ministry to discuss the mapping of the locations for the vaccination initiative.

“The government has been very categorical that no vaccines will be sold in the country by any entity and KEPSA will strictly adhere to this directive by not procuring or selling any vaccines,” Kariuki said.

“All vaccines will be procured, stored and distributed by the Ministry of Health and administration will be done in concert with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council to deliver the vaccines into people’s arms according to the national guidelines,” she noted.

Some of the participating entities include the British Chamber of Commerce Kenya, Kenya Flower Council, European Business Council, Agriculture Sector Network, Kenya Healthcare Federation and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers.

This comes even as Kenya is set to receive the first consignment of Johnson and Johnson vaccine on Friday.

“The government has already paid Sh2 billion to the African Union for the procurement of Johnson and Johnson. The Sh300 million that was paid was really for the allocated number of vaccines that we had been given which totaled 393,000 doses,” Kagwe said.

“Essentially, we will be receiving our first consignments as from tomorrow. These vaccines will progressively enable us inch closer to our target of vaccinating at least 10 million Kenyans by December this year,” he added.

Kenya is expecting another batch of Moderna vaccines from the US on Monday after an additional 358,200 doses of AstraZeneca from the Canadian government were received on Thursday morning.

The ministry had held a position that no private entity will be allowed to import Covid-19 vaccines in the country over what was termed as guarding against possible importation of counterfeits in the market due to lack of a proper monitoring system.

According to Kagwe, the NERC in a meeting held on April 2 had noted that the participation of the private sector in the vaccination exercise threatens the gains made in the fight against the virus, and puts the country at international risk should counterfeit commodities find their way into the Kenyan market.

The current development will be a major boost to the vaccination exercise that targets to reach at least 10 million people by December and 26 million by end of next year.