•Moderna is a two-dose vaccine supposed to be administered 28 days apart.
•The CDC recommends that immunocompromised people should get an additional primary shot (third dose) at least 28 days after their second shot.
Image: REUTERS
Kenya is in talks with other countries in an effort to refill dwindling stocks of Moderna vaccine.
The current stock of the Covid-19 vaccines were received through bilateral donations from the US government through the Covax facility. The first consignment of 880,460 doses arrived in the country on August 23.
A second batch of 795,600 doses, also a donation from the US government, arrived in September and 564,480 doses in November.
Moderna is a two-dose vaccine which is supposed to be administered 28 days apart.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that moderately or severely immunocompromised people should get an additional primary shot (third dose) at least 28 days after their second shot.
“There have been reports and it is true that there are limited stocks of Moderna in the country,” vaccines deployment taskforce chairperson Willis Akhwale said.
“We have discussed with our partners to see how quickly we should also get Moderna vaccines in the country so that we have a full complement of the five doses that we are using across the country,” he said.
Last week, the government received more than two million doses of Pfizer donations from the US government, with the latest consignment of 517,140 coming in on Saturday.
The donation is the 10th from the US since the start of vaccination last year.
“The United States has donated 8.1 million doses of Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson and Johnson vaccines with more on the way. Proud to be part of a global effort to bring life-saving vaccines to Kenyans,” the embassy said on Saturday.
To date, Kenya has received more than 24.6 million doses, majorly from bilateral donations, with 11.9 million having been administered across the country.
According to data from the ministry, the uptake of the second dose among those who received their first dose was at 63 per cent even as the government works towards vaccinating a targeted population of 27 million before the end of the year.
However, with the approval of the vaccines mix and match by the Kenya National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (KENITAG) in late December, those who are due for their second dose are still eligible to receive AZ as a second dose, 28 days after the Mordena shot is administered.
“The population that has been fully vaccinated should be offered an additional dose of either AZ, Moderna or Pfizer vaccines six months after the completion of the primary series. The same or a different vaccine can be used for the additional dose,” acting Health director general Patrick Amoth said.
Similarly, individuals who report serious adverse reactions after receiving a vaccine can be switched to a different type for completion of their vaccination schedule.
Amoth has said for instance, if a serious adverse event occurs after Pfizer or Moderna administration, AZ should be provided 28 days after the initial dose.
After the serious adverse events occur after administration of the AZ vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna vaccines should be provided as the second shot eight weeks after the initial shot.