Kenya received the second batch of 880,320 Covid-19 Moderna Vaccine doses today morning from the government of the United States of America (USA) under the Covax facility.
The doses were received at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) today morning by the Ministry of Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr. Rashid Aman and CDC Country Director Dr. Marc Bulterys among other senior government officials.
COVAX facility is helping the African Union (AU) acquire vaccines for the continent.
“The Kenya government appreciates the support and assistance of the donation we are receiving today from the US government. This donation will be of great help to us,” said Rashid.
He added that Kenya has so far received 5,146,780 various vaccine doses including Astrazeneca and Johnson.
According to records from the MoH, the first batch of 880,460 doses of Moderna Vaccines from the US government was received in the country on August 23, 2021.
Today’s second batch completes the donations amounting to 1,760,780 from the US.
“The vaccine constraints we were facing as a country are now fading away,” he said, expressing optimism that the government will meet its target of vaccinating ten million people by December as pledged by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The CAS urged more people turn up for the vaccines, explaining that “It is through having more people vaccinated that we will know we are managing this pandemic and we can then relax some of the protocols.”
Kenya is still under a night curfew with restrictions on hotels, bars and restaurants operating hours.
So far, 2,357,000 Kenyans have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. More than 800,000 are fully vaccinated.
“We call upon our people, particularly those who have not been vaccinated to turn up and get vaccinated now that we are having more vaccines. We also appeal to those who took their first dose and are due for the second dose but have not turned up for it to please do so.” Rashid added.
