This archive report was first published on 11 September 2021.
Kenya is expecting a significant boost to its COVID-19 vaccination drive with the arrival of 2 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China. The first donation of 200,000 doses is due in September, as the government ramps up efforts to vaccinate at least 10 million people by December.
According to officials, the Sinopharm vaccine has been approved for use in Kenya, alongside other vaccines such as Astrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna. The country is also expecting Pfizer vaccines from the US.
As of September 10, Kenya had vaccinated 3,031,728 people, with 242,945 cases and 4,896 deaths registered. The country is battling its fourth wave of the pandemic, driven by the Delta variant.
Willis Akhwale, chair of the COVID-19 vaccine Taskforce at the Ministry of Health, said: “Kenya has approved Sinopharm. We are confident in its effectiveness since it has been certified by WHO.”
The Sinopharm vaccine is an inactivated vaccine called SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero Cell), which has easy storage requirements making it suitable for low-resource settings. It is also the first vaccine to carry a vaccine vial monitor, a small sticker on the vaccine vials that change color as the vaccine is exposed to heat.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised to provide vaccines to other countries across the world as a “global public good”. China has already sent 52 million vaccine doses to 37 African countries, including 8 million donated doses.
