Nairobi, Kenya, May 21 – Kenyans who have already received their first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will start receiving their second dose from next week.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said another 130,000 doses are expected from COVAX.
“Towards the realisation of this objective, the government is expecting to get 130,000 doses from the Covax facility through the GAVI dose sharing arrangement across neighbouring countries next week,” he said.
He reiterated government’s commitment to ensure that 60 percent of the population is vaccinated by June 2022.
“In this regard, the procurement agreement through African Union for 30 million doses of Johnson and Jonson is almost complete,” Kagwe stated.
He warned against unscrupulous business people who are cashing in on desperate Kenyans who are willing to get their first jab, saying the government will take stern action on anyone selling COVID-19 vaccines.
So far, 951,026 Kenyans have been vaccinated since March this year.
Kagwe said 659 people had tested positive for the virus from a sample size of 7,962 pushing the total caseload to 167,535.
The positivity rate stood at 8.3 percent.
Three patients succumbed to the virus pushing fatalities to 3,043 while 109 patients were discharged raising thee total recoveries to 114,394.
