Kenya Awaits First Consignment Of Covid-19 Vaccine Tuesday

The first consignment of the Covid-19 vaccine will arrive in the country Tuesday.  

According to Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, Kenya will receive 1.02 million doses of Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine.

He said the 1.02 million doses will be the first batch of the 4.1 million expected with the country ultimately planning to import 24 million doses.

Kenya Awaits First Consignment Of Covid-19 Vaccine Tuesday

The CS, who spoke in Nyeri on Sunday said priority will be given to healthcare workers countrywide.

The vaccine will arrive in the country through Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) facility.

This comes even as the country last week kicked off plans to expand its cold chain capacity across the country.

The Ministry of Health has already initiated discussions with the national treasury that could see funds availed to procure freezers that can store the vaccine at -70°C.

The ministry intends to request funds for vaccine storage facilities vaccines that can achieve -20 degrees Celsius and store up to 20 million vials.

Addressing a virtual meeting organized by the Kenya Medical Association Dr. Akhwale said facilities with the capacity to maintain temperatures below 70 degrees Celsius are available in Kemri and a few other facilities but they are already holding other biologicals.

He added that the ministry was cautious not to contaminate vaccines with those biologicals.