Kenya Approves Moderna, Sinopharm Vaccines Amid Fourth Wave

(Bloomberg) -- Kenya granted emergency use authorization for Moderna Inc and Sinopharm Group Co. Covid-19 vaccines, said Pharmacy and Poisons Board Chief Executive Officer Fred Siyoi.

The East African nation will receive two million Sinopharm doses, with the first batch of 200,000 shots donated by China expected in September, Willis Akhwale, head of its vaccine advisory team, said in a separate interview. It also expects 1.76 million doses of Moderna, with an initial 800,000 shots arriving in Nairobi next week.

Authorities are ramping up vaccinations amid a surge in infections driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Kenya has fully vaccinated 2.8% of its adults and aims to inoculate at least 10 million of them by the end of the year.

Other scheduled deliveries:

• About 393,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson doses will arrive at the end of next week, and 500,000 doses every month thereafter. Kenya ordered about 13 million doses from J&J.
• Another 1.8 million Pfizer Inc shots will be delivered mid-September.

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