Kenya receives 200,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine from China

Kenya receives 200,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine from China

Kenya has received 200,000 doses of the China-made Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to aid in vaccination efforts, making it the fifth type of vaccine to be deployed in the country, alongside Astrazeneca, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer.

The doses which were received by Ministry of Health officials and the Chinese Minister Counselor to Kenya on Saturday morning. 

The two-dose vaccine has a 28-day gap between doses and requires storage conditions ranging from 2 to 8 degrees.

“I am glad to report that all our Health care workers have already been trained on the administration of this vaccine, as is the case with all the other vaccines we have so far received,” Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said in a statement on Saturday. 

According to the Health Ministry, the consignment that arrived on Saturday was delivered courtesy of of strong bilateral relations between Kenya and China. 

“Sinopharm is also available through the Government of Kenya engagement with the COVAX mechanism, and we shall be getting more supplies through that platform in the near future as and when available,” CS Kagwe added. 

The Ministry of Health also urged Kenyans to get their COVID-19 vaccines in order to protect themselves from severe illness and death caused by the disease.

The new doses come just a day after Kenya received 795,600 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine from the US government to boost the ongoing vaccination exercise.

As of Thursday, September 16, 2021, a total of 3,290,450 vaccines had been administered across the country. Of these, total first doses are 2,439,528 while second doses are 850,922.

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