Japan donates 12 ultra-cold chain freezers to Kenya for Covid-19 vaccines
The government of Japan has donated 12 ultra-cold chain freezers to the country to improve the cold chain capacity for Covid-19 vaccines roll out.
The deep freezers with a 3 million dose capacity were handed over to Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe today.
Kagwe noted that the 12 freezers will come in handy in the storage of vaccines especially Pfizer vaccine that requires storage of -70 degrees.
“We are extremely thankful to the Japanese government for this donation which will enable us store vaccines safely so as to vaccinate as many people as possible,” Kagwe said.
“As a country we have refused to take up vaccines that have a short life line.Pfizer will be stocked at facilities that can vaccinate 100 people per day.”
According to Kagwe, three of these freezers will be placed at the central vaccine stores in Kitengela while the rest will be distributed to 9 regional stores in Nairobi, Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru, Nyeri, Meru and Kakamega.
Garissa will also receive a specialised deep freezer to serve the North Eastern region.
Additionally, he announced plans to prioritise hotel staff, people aged 50 years and above and the over 18 year-olds with underlying medical conditions to get covid jabs.
The strengthening will include, establishment of 25 new county vaccine stores, improvement of technical capacity in 36 sub-county stores as well as expansion of storage capacity at 1,177 facilities across the country.
The country currently has AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson and Moderna vaccines and is expecting Pfizer from the US in the coming days.
