880K Moderna doses donated by US arrive in Kenya

Nearly 900,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States arrived in Kenya early Monday morning, UNICEF announced.

A total of 880,460 doses were donated by the U.S. to Kenya via the global vaccination sharing firm COVAX and transported by UNICEF.

“We are very grateful to the US Government for this generous donation of Moderna vaccines,” Kenyan Ministry of Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache said. “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 [Uhuru] Kenyatta to vaccinate 10 million Kenyans by the end of December 2021.”

All Kenyan citizens over 18 are eligible for the vaccine.

“This donation builds on the United States partnership with the Government of Kenya in response to COVID-19,” said Eric Kneedler, the U.S. Embassy chargé d’affaires ad interim. “These life-saving vaccines will fill an important need at a critical time in Kenya’s fight against this pandemic.”

A little more than 2 percent of Kenya is vaccinated, with the country reporting an average of 1,183 new infections each day, according to Reuters.

The move comes as the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S., the first to get full approval in America.