Kenya has received more than a million Covid-19 vaccines as part of the global COVAX program, according to a statement from the country’s Ministry of Health on Tuesday.
A plane carrying 1.02 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine crashed shortly before midnight on Tuesday at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
It is part of an initial allocation of 3.5 million doses in Kenya, according to the joint statement of the Ministry of Health of Kenya, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance .
According to the Ministry of Health, the first beneficiaries of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will include front-line workers such as health professionals, teachers and security staff.
The COVAX program, led jointly by the WHO together with non-profit health organizations, aims to supply vaccines to developing countries in the first 100 days of 2021 and deploy at least 2 billion doses by the end of the year.
“We know this pandemic will not end in one country until it is over in all countries,” said Thabani Maphosa, director general of country programs for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
“The first arrivals of Covid-19 vaccine doses in Kenya represent the beginning of an equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines worldwide. These first doses are for the vaccination of front-line health workers, which are critical to the response of Covid-19 and the maintenance of all health services. “
In addition to vaccines, UNICEF supplies syringes and safes to Kenya, through a global stock funded and supported by Gavi.