One million doses of Pfizer vaccine have arrived in Kenya from the United States.
The donation is part of a promise U.S. President Joe Biden made to his counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta during the African leader's recent visit to Washington.
The batch of vaccines, according to the will of the U.S. government, will be used to vaccinate all those who have received the first dose since last September 17, when the U.S. government sent the first batch of 800,000 Pfizer doses, along with special refrigerators to maintain them, to the country. Subsequently, Kenya obtained another 210 thousand doses. In this way, the number of total vaccinated very soon could rise significantly. In the last bulletin it was reported that just under 6% of the adult population had received the two doses of vaccine. The Nairobi government's belief that 10% of adults will be fully vaccinated by the end of the year remains firm.
The Kenyan Ministry of Health, in an official note thanking the U.S. for fulfilling the promise of the donation, assured that it will ensure that all those who receive the first vaccine, to get the second dose.
This is a "dedicated" supply to Kenya, while the U.S. has contracted the distribution, through the African Union, of another 17 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, although it is not yet clear how many of these and the 50 million doses already shipped to the AU will arrive in Nairobi.
Welcoming the vaccines at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was Deputy Health Minister Susan Mochache and Administrative Secretary Ababu Namwamba, as well as the U.S. Embassy's chargé d'affaires to Kenya, Eric Kneedler.