Editor's Review

  • The arrival of the Sinopharm vaccines comes hours after Kenya also received 795,600 doses of Pfizer vaccine, donated by the United States government.

The Government of Kenya has received the first 200,000 doses of Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.

The vaccines arrived in the country on Saturday morning and were received by Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache.

Speaking after receiving the vaccines, PS Mochache called on Kenyans to go and get vaccinated in order to be protected from the deadly covid-19 virus.

"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," she said.

Sinopharm is the fifth type of vaccine that will be deployed in the country alongside AstraZeneca, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer.

The Sinopharm vaccine is a two-dose vaccine with a 28-day gap between the first and second dose.

The PS said the vaccine's storage condition is 2 to 8 degrees and it fits well in the cold chain storage capacity we have in our vaccine stores.

[Kenya receives 200,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm]

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.

Mochache said the vaccines came courtesy of the good relationship Kenya and China, and that more of the same vaccine will come through the COVAX facility.

"Although this consignment has been delivered courtesy of our strong bilateral relations, Sinopharm is also available through the Government of Kenya engagement with the COVAX mechanism & we shall be getting more supplies through that platform in the near future," she added.

The arrival of the Sinopharm vaccines comes hours after Kenya also received 795,600 doses of Pfizer vaccine, donated by the United States government.

An additional 1,236,690 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be arriving in the country in the coming weeks.

The arrival of different types of vaccines is a boost to the country's target to have at least 10 million people fully vaccinated by December 2021.