Browsing: COVID-19 vaccines

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  • Moderna has announced plans to build a manufacturing facility in Kenya
  • The firm’s CEO, Stéphane Bancel, said the ‘mRNA’ facility would produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year
  • Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Kenya and the company to establish the first mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa

American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna has announced plans to build a manufacturing facility in Kenya.

On Monday, March 7, 2022, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Kenya and the company to establish the first mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa.

The firm’s CEO, Stéphane Bancel, said the ‘mRNA’ facility would produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year.

The company said it would invest up to $500 million in the new facility, which will focus on drug substance manufacturing on the continent of Africa …

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  • Doses delivered to G20 countries per capita are 15 times higher than doses delivered per capita to sub-Saharan African countries
  • Wealthy countries with more supplies than they need have generously pledged to donate these doses to low- and middle-income countries via COVAX but these promised doses are moving too slowly

G20 countries have received 15 times more COVID-19 vaccine doses per capita than countries in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new analysis.

The analysis, conducted by science analytics company Airfinity, exposes the severity of vaccine inequity between high-income and low-income countries, especially in Africa.

It found that doses delivered to G20 countries per capita are 15 times higher than doses delivered per capita to sub-Saharan African countries, 15 times higher than doses delivered per capita to low-income countries and 3 times higher than doses delivered per capita in all other countries combined.

“Vaccine inequity is not just holding the poorest …

Receiving Pfizer vaccines from the United States

For the first time, Pfizer vaccines from the United States have landed in the country.

The country received 795,600 doses of the expected 1.4 million doses of Pfizer vaccine provided by the US Government.

Due to the nature of the Pfizer vaccines, they can only survive in extremely low temperatures which is minus 70
degrees. The government thus had to make prior arrangements with its partners to acquire ultra-cold storage and install it to maintain the quality of the vaccines.

To enable the use of Pfizer vaccines in Kenya, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has recently procured 12 ultra-low temperature freezers and accessories with funding from the Government of Japan.

The Pfizer vaccine is the 4th type of Covid-19 vaccine to be deployed in the country making an approximate number of doses received so far over into the country 6.3 million in their various assortments.

These vaccines will go a …

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Kenya received a further 180,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday, even as the number of those who have been vaccinated surpass 1.7 million.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health says the addition will serve as a boost to the ongoing vaccination efforts amid increased Covid-19 cases across the country.

So far, a total of 209, 823 cases have been reported Kenya.

The latest consignment, which was a donation from the Greek government, pushes the number of vaccines received in the country to 2,323,100.

Speaking at JKIA after receiving the consignment, National Taskforce on Vaccine Deployment Chair Dr. Willis Akhwale said the donation was a welcome boost to the ongoing vaccination exercise.

Akhwale said the government expects to have vaccinated 10 million people by the end of this year.

At the same time, Deputy Head of mission at the Embassy of Greece in Kenya Counsellor Sotirios Demestichas, said the …

UK will giving COVID-19 vaccine to Kenya

Kenya has received a coronavirus vaccine donation from the United kingdom, following the meeting between President Uhuru Kenyatta and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this week.

The East African nation received 410, 000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Saturday, as part of the 817, 000 doses that Kenyatta secured during his three-day visit of London earlier this week.

The remaining doses which were donated through the COVAX facility is expected to arrive in the country in the coming days ahead.

The arrival of the vaccines come days after President Uhuru Kenyatta urged the global community to heighten efforts in promoting equity in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Speaking to Sky News in London, President Kenyatta underscored that the world can only be save if everybody gets to be vaccinated against the virus.

He noted that Kenya is ready to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccines but regretted that the only …

2021 02 24 covax ghana

Economic activities in Ghana are expected to strengthen faster after the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, experts have said.

Boost confidence

Speaking in an exclusive interview with one of the leading local dailies, economic analysts noted that vaccinating people would boost the confidence of businesses and consumers.

This, according to them, will enable people to carry out their activities as they explore new business avenues for a faster recovery of the economy.

Professor Peter Quartey and Dr Said Boakye while giving their insights argued that Covid-19 vaccines rollout would also boost the confidence of business partners abroad to open up or increase trade to the country.

The government, the experts say, should set economic growth for this year to between 4.5 and five per cent on the back of the positive impact of the vaccine rollout on gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

They were giving their insights on the impact of …

zipline vaccine2

Delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to selected health facilities has kicked off in Ghana.

The exercise which began on Tuesday, March 2, is being conducted by Zipline, using drones.

Ghana is now the first country in the world to deploy drones on a national scale to deliver COVID-19 vaccines, which were shipped into the country on February 23, by the Covax facility.

Ghana received 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, from the Serum Institute of India (SII).

The arrival in Accra is the first batch delivered anywhere in the world by the COVAX Facility as part of an unprecedented effort to deliver at least 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2021.

How COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed

With about 12 million people in Ghana living outside cities, the country’s government will use Zipline’s network to deliver its COVID-19 vaccines to ensure rapid, …