Kenya’s president seeks Covid-19 vaccine from China

Kenya is now looking to the east for a potential Covid-19 vaccine, according to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The president gave the ministry of health the go ahead to shop for vaccines from China.

The country’s decision comes in the wake of rich countries in the west buying nearly 3.8 billion doses of vaccines currently in development, according to a study by Duke Global Health Innovation Centre.

“Covid-19 seems to be making a comeback with a vengeance and for us in Kenya, the cases in the counties seem to be growing,” Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe said on Monday.

Logistics is a major concern when considering access to vaccines.

China’s President Xi Jinping in May promised the successful vaccines being tested will be offered to Africa at a discounted price.

Experts have argued that this offers a potential route to cool off the resentment and criticism that China received on how it handled pandemic earlier on.

Kenya is currently testing the Oxford-Astrazaneca vaccine.

Of the four countries taking part in vaccine trials, Egypt and Morocco are testing one of the vaccines from China.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention says the country has five vaccines that have entered phase III clinical trials.

However, Kenya has not released much data on the efficacy of its home-grown vaccines.

There are now more than 80,000 people who have been confirmed Covid-19 positive in Kenya. More than 1,400 have died from the disease.