Kenya has received the second batch of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from the U.S government to boost the country’s vaccination drive.
The 210,600 doses of Pfizer jabs arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) around 1 am on Tuesday from the COVAX facility.
The vaccines arrived barely two weeks after the country received the first batch of 795,600 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines on September 17, 2021.
A third consignment is expected in Kenya in the coming weeks to complete the 2.03 million Pfizer vaccine doses the U.S government pledged to donate to Kenya.
The vaccines are part of the United States’ efforts to combat COVID-19 around the globe committing over one billion doses worldwide.
The US govt has donated close to 3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Kenya.
To complement the vaccine donation, the US, through USAID and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has invested $4.9 million (Ksh495 million) to support the vaccine rollout in Kenya through projects aimed at increasing demand for vaccines, health worker training, project monitoring, strengthening supply chain and cold storage capacity, and monitoring adverse effects.
“President Biden recently announced the United States has committed to providing an additional half billion Pfizer doses to low-and middle-income countries around the world. The doses that have already arrived in Kenya and those that are coming will save lives. We continue to encourage Kenyans to get vaccinated to protect yourself, your families, and your communities,” said U.S. Embassy Health Attaché, Dr. Douglas Shaffer.
