Kenya receives 790,000 Pfizer COVID-19 doses from US

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Kenya on Friday received a donation of 795,600 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from the US, as part of more than 2 million doses that Kenya expects from Washington.

Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache, received the consignment on behalf of Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and said the Pfizer vaccine doses will accelerate the ongoing vaccination campaign as Kenya strives to immunize 60% of its population.

“This is now the fourth type of COVID-19 vaccine to be deployed in Kenya. With this consignment, the country will now have received over 6.3 million doses of assorted vaccines”.

Acting US Ambassador to Kenya Eric Kneedler said the US remains committed to supporting Kenya to recover from the pandemic.

UNICEF Kenya Deputy Representative Jean Lokenga, who was also at the handover ceremony, said that the donation is a welcome boost to the ongoing vaccination, noting that a further 1,236,690 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be arriving in Kenya in the coming weeks.

A total of 3,290,450 vaccine doses had been administered in Kenya as of Thursday with 2,439,528 being first doses. 850,922 people representing 3.1% of the country’s entire adult population have so far been fully vaccinated.

Kenya is targeting to increase daily vaccination rates to 150,000 by December this year. Vaccination posts will also be increased from 800 to 3,000 by December with the number rising to 7,877 by June next year.

A total of 444 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Kenya on Friday from a sample size of 7,511 tested in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate is now at 5.9%. Total confirmed positive cases are now 245,781 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,486,331.

Four patients succumbed to the disease bringing cumulative fatalities to 4,965.