US Donates 1.76 Million Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Doses to Kenya

The United States has donated 1.76 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Kenya.

Willis Akhwale, Chairperson of the COVID-19 vaccine Deployment Taskforce, confirmed they are in talks with the US government for the delivery of the jabs.

“…we are moving from the period when we have been experiencing scarcity to when we should have adequate doses,” Akhwale said during an interview on KTN News.

Last month, the US listed Kenya among countries that would receive a total of 14 million shots of coronavirus vaccine.

The US announced it would send 55 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia as part of President Biden's pledge to share 80 million shots globally.

The White House said 41 out of the 55 million doses will be shared through COVAX, which will allocate roughly 14 million to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, 16 million to Asia, and 10 million to Africa.

The White House said the remaining 14 million doses would be shared with regional priorities and other recipients such as Colombia, Argentina, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, and Tunisia.

Akhwale stated that the arrival of the 1.76 million Pfizer doses would be a major boost to the ongoing vaccination program in the country. Kenya will also receive another 271,000 doses of Pfizer through the COVAX facility.

“I think this is important so that all the countries around the globe can be at the same level in terms of vaccination coverage,” he said.