The United States Donates Second Tranche of COVID-19 Vaccines to Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 6- The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi has announced the donation of 880,320 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to the Government of Kenya – the second tranche of Moderna vaccines to arrive in Kenya – bringing the total number of donated Moderna vaccines to 1.76 million doses. 

The donated vaccines are part of the United States’ efforts to combat COVID-19 around the globe, committing over half a billion doses worldwide. 

Representatives from the United States Embassy, the Kenyan Ministry of Health, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization welcomed the vaccines at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Monday. 

The vaccine doses were shipped to Kenya via the Gavi/COVAX partnership. 

To complement the vaccine donation, the United States, through USAID and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has invested $4.9 million (Sh495 million) to support the vaccine rollout in Kenya through projects aimed at increasing demand for vaccines, health worker training, project monitoring, strengthening the supply chain and cold storage capacity, and monitoring adverse effects.  

The United States will continue to coordinate with the African Union and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide critical vaccine doses.  A shipment of 1.7 million Pfizer vaccines is expected later in September. 

“The United States is pleased to be part of this coordinated global effort to bring life-saving vaccines to the people of Kenya.  Our two governments have worked together on a variety of fronts to curb COVID-19 in Kenya and these vaccines will fill an important need to continue to fight the virus,” said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Country Director Dr. Marc Bulterys. 

The country is vaccinating the population with AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson vaccines.

By Sunday, the government statistics indicated that 2.8 million people had been vaccinated with the uptake of the second jab reported at 39.7 percent.

The Health Ministry is set to roll out the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Monday, starting with Kenyatta National Hospital and Mbagathi hospital.