Sh833 a dose for Covid-19 vaccine as state eyes 12 million more doses

Health Director-General Patrick Amoth addressing the press on Coronavirus numbers in the country. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

The government will spend sh10 billion to purchase 12 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

It, therefore, means the country will be buying the vaccine for sh833 per dose.

The Ministry of Health has revealed that the 12 million doses will be an addition to the 24 million others of the vaccine the country expects in the first quarter of 2021.

The 24 million doses will be given to Kenya as a member of the Covax vaccine accelerator programme carried out by the World Health Organisation and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.

Kenya is taking part in the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford developed ChAdOx(AZD1222) vaccine through the Kenya Medical Research Institute(Kemri) Wellcome Trust-Kilifi.

However, the trials of this vaccine in the country are at phase one which means the country will be basing its efficacy on the trials carried out in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Health Acting Director General Dr Patrick Amoth said the low price of the vaccine compared to its counterparts is one of the reasons why Kenya settled for it.

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which US, Singapore and Canada have ordered has a price tag of Sh2,000 per dose followed by Moderna’s which costs between sh1,500 and sh1,700 a dose. AstraZeneca goes for about sh400 to sh600 a dose.

Therefore, the government’s plan to purchase 12 million doses from a budgetary allocation of sh10 billion means each dose will cost sh833.

Amoth said the AstraZeneca vaccine is also suitable for the country’s cold chain logistics as it can be stored under temperatures of between two and eight degrees Celsius.

“The other two vaccines require a unique cold chain system that most countries do not have,” said Amoth referring to Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Amoth said safety, immunogenicity and efficacy are the three main thresholds the country has used to settle on AstraZeneca.

“We want a vaccine that is vector carrier developed, WHO prequalified and cold chain that we can sustain that is -2 to -8 degrees and also the lowest price. If you look at all those parameters Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine ticks all except may be one as we await the WHO prequalification,” said Amoth.

The efficacy of the vaccine is 70.4 per cent according to a study published December 8 by The Lancet titled; Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK.

Of the targeted recipients of the vaccine are 430,000 healthcare workers, 5.3 million elderly persons, 4.4 million with pre-existing conditions like diabetes and hypertension and 830,000 teachers and police officers.

These populations account for 20 per cent of the country and hence in order to reach 30 per cent as per the state’s plan, the government sought to purchase 12 million more doses.

The 36 million doses in total are expected to be given to 18 million Kenyans considering studies of the vaccine show efficacy after two doses: a standard jab and a booster after 28 days.

“ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, evaluated in four trials across three continents, showing significant vaccine efficacy of 70·4 per cent after two doses and protection of 64·1 per cent after at least one standard dose, against symptomatic disease, with no safety concerns,” reads the findings from the clinical trials.