Kenya has received yet another boost in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with a donation of 358,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Canadian Government under the COVAX facility.
The donation from Canada comes less than two weeks following a similar donation of 880,460 Moderna doses from the United States government.
Speaking after receiving the consignment at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache lauded the Canadian government for the good gesture.
“The donations will go a long way in helping our people in this fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused untold suffering not only to Kenyans, but the world as whole and in some cases resulted in deaths,” said Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache.
The new arrival of the vaccines now brings the total number of vaccines donated to Kenya to at least 3.9 million as the country intensifies efforts to meet its target of vaccinating at least 10 million people by the end of the year.
Kenya is expecting another 4.16 million doses over the next few weeks that included the consignment of Johnson and Johnson expected on August 3, 2021.
The PS noted that the government has already paid Ksh.2 billion to the African Union (AU) for the procurement of J & J vaccines.
Ksh.300 million was paid for the purchase of 393,000 doses.
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She revealed have received that the country has so far received over 3.6 million vaccines, some of which have been donations from friends
So far, Kenya has fully vaccinated over 80,000 people from more than 2.8 million vaccines administered and only 2.96 percent of its adult population fully vaccinated.
In recent days, the government has been on the spot issuing warnings to people abating in aiding of selling vaccines, terming it as a criminal offence.
“The vaccination against COVID-19 is FREE OF CHARGE, whether in a private facility, or in a public hospital or any other designated sites. It is therefore illegal and immoral for anyone to take advantage of this process, for the purpose of political gain to profiteer or seek political capital out of it. Let us keep vaccines out of politics, this is a matter that is grave and threatens our survival.”
The Ministry said it will partner with security agencies to ensure the concerned individuals are nabbed and face the full face of the law for their acts of omission and commission.
Kenya Medical and Dentist Board has been directed to deregister all facilities charging for Covid-19.vaccination.
The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) on August 31, inked a deal with the Ministry of Health in a bid to support the government fight the coronavirus pandemic that has seen 240 million shilling raise.
