The Republic of Kenya on Thursday received 358,200 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the Canadian government.
The vaccines were received by Kenyan officials, led by Health PS Susan Mochache at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as Canadian Ambassador to Kenya David Anthony Da Silva handed over the vaccines.
Last week, a batch of 880,460 Moderna vaccines arrived in the country from the United States. Kenya’s portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines has continued to widen.
The vaccines which form the first batch of the two shipments expected to total 1.76 million doses from the U.S. government arrived at JKIA at 6.15 am.
This was the first time that Moderna vaccines have been received in Kenya. The vaccines were donated through the Covax facility and transported by Unicef.
The World Health Organisation has so far approved six Covid-19 vaccines for emergency use, including AstraZeneca and Moderna.
Mochache said “Vaccination is now open to all Kenyans over the age of 18. I would like to emphasise that all WHO and government of Kenya approved vaccines, including the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines, are safe and effective,”
The vaccines arrived through the global Covax initiative, which is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), working in partnership with Unicef as well as the World Bank, civil society organisations, manufacturers, and others.