At 6:15 am on the 23rd of August, 880,460 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, in Nairobi Kenya. These vaccines are the first of two shipments totalling 1.76 million doses donated by the United States Government via the COVAX facility and transported by UNICEF.
This is the first time Moderna vaccines are arriving in Kenya and will go a long way in Kenya’s vaccination rollout campaign.
“We are very grateful to the US Government for this generous donation of Moderna vaccines. This will greatly support the ongoing rollout of Kenya’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign and help us reach the target announced by His Excellency President Kenyatta to vaccinate 10 million Kenyans by the end of December 2021. Vaccination is now open to all Kenyans over the age of 18. I would like to emphasise that all WHO and the Government of Kenya approved vaccines, including the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines, are safe and effective. Members of the public will receive available vaccines at the health centre they visit, upon registration in the Chanjo System.”
There have been 229,628 infections and 4,528 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. Kenya has administered at least 2,396,064 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine so far, meaning less than 3% of its population is fully vaccinated