The 5 Covid-19 vaccines available in Kenya

The Government of Kenya is currently administering a number of different Covid-19 vaccines countrywide.

Oxford's Astra Zeneca was the first vaccine to be administered in Kenya, with President Uhuru Kenyatta and a number of government officials having taken their first dose in public.

President Kenyatta recounted that the National Vaccine Deployment Plan had initially aimed to vaccinate 10 million adults by June 2022 and approximately 16 million by June 2023.

He outlined that the strategy had since been revised with a goal of vaccinating 10 million adults by June 2022, and the entire adult population of 26 million Kenyans by 2023.

"In fact, by Christmas this year, we intend to have vaccinated Over 10 Million adults. According to our experts, we will have built a capacity to vaccinate 150,000 people every day from August 2021," he stated.

With President Kenyatta's goal to have 10 million adults vaccinated before Christmas, the Ministry of Health has acquired four other types of the Covid-19 vaccine.

These are: the Moderna vaccine, Janssen by Johnson & Johnson, BioNTech Pfizer ans most recently, China's Sinopharm vaccine.

MoH is yet to confirm whether Pfizer and Sinopharm have been rolled out for nationwide distribution and administration.

"We are once again appealing to our people who have not been vaccinated to use this chance to do so in order to protect yourself and your loved ones. Like we have stated before all vaccines are the same and perform the same function," Health PS Susan Mochache urged on Saturday after receiving a consignment of the Sinopharm vaccine.

The government is targeting to increase daily vaccination rates to 150,000 by December this year.

Vaccination posts will also be increased from 800 to 3,000 by December with the number rising to 7,877 by June next year.

A woman prepares to administer a COVID-19 vaccine. 8dc0a35a-360c-4218-a38c-051b250bae16

As of September 18, 2021, a total of 3,351,109 vaccines had been administered across the country. Of these, total first doses were 2,492,173 while second doses were 858,936.