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NAIROBI. – Kenya had administered 30 000 Sinopharm vaccine doses out of the 200 000 the east African nation received from the Chinese government, a senior official said yesterday.

Willis Akhwale, the Chairman of the National Taskforce on Covid-19 Deployment and Vaccination, said the vaccines have mainly been administered on demand due to challenges in storage.

“We are in discussion with the Chinese government to expand the cold chain facilities before we bring in more doses from the country. The vaccines need a little bigger storage space as compared to others thus it becomes a challenge if they are to be distributed at dispensaries that have smaller fridges,” he said.

Akhwale said Kenya was expected to start full Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing by 2024.

“Our roadmap is on course. We have already formed the Kenya Biovax Limited company through which we will manufacture the vaccine.”

He noted that the government would forge strategic partnerships with other nations for technology transfer, access to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and the right equipment.

Kenya had administered 5.7 million vaccines as of Tuesday, of which 3.8 million people were partially vaccinated, according to the Ministry of Health. – Xinhua