US Donates 2.2 Million Special Syringes to Kenya for Administration of Pfizer Vaccine

Kenya is set to receive 2.2 million specialized syringes from the US government to facilitate the administration of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

The Ministry of Health said the first consignment of the dead space syringes will land in the country on Saturday while the second and third batches will arrive on Sunday and Monday.

The syringes, which limit the dead space that exists between the syringe hub and needle, are recommended for the administration of the US-made vaccine.

The Pfizer vaccine normally contains five doses per vial, but a low dead space syringe, which expels more medicine from the space between a syringe's needle and plunger, can eke out six doses per vial.

The administration of the one million doses of the Pfizer vaccine donated by the US to Kenya last month had been delayed due to lack of the specialized syringes.

A total of 1,005,600 Pfizer vaccine doses arrived in Nairobi in two batches on September 17th and September 28th.

The arrival of the syringes is expected to boost the government’s efforts to vaccinate 10 million people by December 31st.

“The National accelerated COVID-19 vaccination campaign is set for a boost with the administration of the Pfizer vaccine set to begin next week,” the Health Ministry said.

Pfizer is one of the five coronavirus vaccines deployed in the country alongside AstraZeneca, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Johnson and Johnson.

As of September 30th, 3.3 percent of the country’s population had been vaccinated, according to the ministry.