Kenya has received   880,460 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, donated by the US.

The vaccines are the first batch of two shipments totaling 1.76 million doses, that have been donated by the United States Government via the COVAX facility and transported by UNICEF, which has also been supporting the Ministry of Health in the distribution of the vaccines, procuring, deploying and managing the vaccines’ cold chain equipment.

“We are very grateful to the US Government for this generous donation of Moderna vaccines. This will greatly support the ongoing rollout of Kenya’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign and help us reach the target announced by His Excellency President Kenyatta to vaccinate 10 million Kenyans by the end of December 2021,” Ministry of Health PS Susan Mochache said.

The Ps further urged all Kenyans over the age of 18 to turn up at vaccination centers and get the COVID-19 jab.

“I would like to emphasize that all WHO and Government of Kenya approved vaccines, including the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines, are safe and effective. Members of the public will receive available vaccines at the health center they visit, upon registration in the Chanjo System, Portal.health.go.ke ,” she said.

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine widens the portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines available for the national vaccination rollout. The government has been using Oxford’s AstraZeneca vaccine.

COVID-19 Vaccination in Kenya

According to the Ministry of Health, as of August 22nd, 2021, a total of 2,412,209 vaccines had been administered across the country. Of these, the total first doses were 1,631,022 while second doses were 781,187

The government plans to vaccinate 10 million people by the close of the year with 26 million people expected to have been vaccinated by the end of next year. Already 2.9 percent of the entire adult population has been vaccinated.