This archive report was first published on 2 July 2021.
Kenya has secured a significant boost in its fight against COVID-19 with the procurement of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been shown to be highly effective against the deadly Delta variant.
According to Dr. Mathai Mammen, the head of research and development for J&J's pharmaceutical division, the vaccine generates a strong neutralizing antibody response that does not wane over time, but rather improves with time.
"Current data for the eight months studied so far show that the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong neutralizing antibody response that does not wane; rather, we observe an improvement over time," Dr. Mammen said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta announced on Tuesday that the government had managed to purchase 13 million vaccines from the American-based company, a significant increase from the initial goal of 10 million vaccines.
"In the process of negotiating with this company, we managed to get a lower price. For the price of 10 million vaccines, we have negotiated for them to deliver 13 million vaccines," the President said.
The President further laid out a plan to vaccinate Kenya's entire adult population, which is approximately 26 million people, by the end of 2022.
As of Thursday, 406,146 Kenyans had been inoculated with the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, while 1,010,954 people had received one dose. The total vaccines administered in the country to date stood at 1,417,100.
