• In April the Biden administration announced that it would share 60 million surplus AstraZeneca doses with other countries
• Kenya has just resumed negotiations with the United States on a far-reaching Free Trade Agreement
Kenya has ordered 30 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine against Covid, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said on Tuesday. That is a smart move but Kenya also needs to complete its AstraZeneca second vaccinations.
There is a global shortfall of the AstraZeneca vaccine after India blocked export orders by its Serum Institute. As a result, Covax has a shortfall of 90 million doses and is now looking to Pfizer and Johnson to meet its requirements.
In April the Biden administration said the USA had 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, either in stock or in production, available to share with other countries since it was now concentrating on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Mutahi Kagwe has already said that Kenya has "reached out to the highest levels of the US government" for a share of its AstraZeneca doses.
The United States is trying to sign a Free Trade Agreement with Kenya, the first with an African nation. There is a special relationship between Kenya and the USA but the Biden administration should cement that with an early delivery of its surplus AstraZeneca doses to Kenya.
Quote of the day: "Every man's got to figure to get beat sometime."
Joe Louis
The world heavyweight boxing champion was born on May 13, 1914