•Another 1 million doses of Johnson and Johnson are likely to expire if they remain unused by April 15.
•Mwangangi on Wednesday noted that vaccines have a short shelf life.
Image: REUTERS
Atleast 840, 000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccines have expired, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.
Another 1 million doses of Johnson and Johnson are likely to expire if they remain unused by April 15.
The highest number of doses that have expired have been reported in Nakuru at 35,000, Busia (27,980), Kajiado (25, 770), Kakamega (12,000) and Kwale (11,730).
The doses had an expiry date of February 28.
Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi called upon the counties to utilize all available vaccines on their shelves to minimize wastage.
“We call on county governments to do all they can to ensure that all vaccines in their facilities are administered. MoH is working with county government and partners to do everything possible to ensure that the vaccine doses are utilized before expiry,” she said.
Mwangangi on Wednesday noted that vaccines have a short shelf life.
"This is a challenge as reported by developing and developed countries," Mwangangi said.
“We have seen cases of expired drugs being destroyed in Africa. This includes our neighbours and other countries within the horn of Africa,” Mwangangi said.
Further, she noted that in Kenya the Ministry of Health is working with the county governments and partners to ensure the vaccine doses we have been utilized before expiry.
Campaigns, outreaches and timely redistribution of doses from counties with low consumption are among the measures the ministry has taken.
By January this year, Kenya had about 2.2 million doses of the Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccines doses.
These doses have been distributed in nine regional vaccine stores for utilization by the county government.
Ministry of Health has commended the vaccination exercise as having been a great success.
“So far we have managed to administer 17. 3 million doses out of which 7.9 million are those who have received their first dose while another 7.9 million are now fully vaccinated,” Mwangangi said.
Further, Mwangangi said another 1 million doses have been administered to those between 15 to 17 years and 270,998 have been administered as booster doses.