Sinopharm approval bolsters Kenya-China pandemic cooperation

The approval of China’s Sinopharm vaccine by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board comes at a critical time when Kenya is ramping up efforts to inoculate its citizens against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The global health crisis has had wide ranging effects from health, economic, political and even cultural implications in East Africa’s largest economy.

Kenya is currently facing an upsurge of infections from more transmissible and deadly virus variants in the backdrop of increased hoarding of vaccines by rich economies; making it difficult for Nairobi to access the commodities.

As of August 19, 2021, a total of 4,404 Kenyans had lost their lives to the disease with cumulative infections standing at 225,663, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. 

Meanwhile the social restrictions aimed at cutting community transmissions of the disease are taking a toll on the economy with millions of jobs already lost to the pandemic.

From buoyant pre-Covid-19 economic expansion of 6.3 per cent in 2018 and 5.4 per cent in 2019; the International Monetary Fund estimates that Kenyan economy registered a disappointing negative growth of - 0.1 per cent in 2020.

16 million people

With an eye on vaccinations as the key to its recovery from the pandemic, Kenya has set an ambitious target to vaccinate 16 million people by June 2022. However, as advanced economies begin administering the booster shots, against the advice from the World Health Organization, the dream of developing countries like Kenya to vaccinate their most vulnerable populations could be cut short. As of August 18th 2021, only 767,602 persons had been fully vaccinated while total vaccine doses administered in Kenya stood at 2,221,704.

This is why the approval of the WHO listed Sinopharm vaccine for use in Kenya is important. China had pledged to supply over 10 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to poor countries through the Covax facility. Kenya now stands a chance to receive some vaccine donations from China.

Secondly, with a strong pandemic control programme, having administered over 1.9 billion Covid-19 doses at home, China has a better chance to assist developing countries access the commodities.

It is during times of crisis like this that China should honour its longstanding pledge to partner with developing countries in the pandemic response through provision of its vaccines as global public goods.

Thirdly, China is already collaborating with African countries like Morocco to manufacture the Sinopharm vaccines in the continent. This significantly reduces the cost of transportation and logistics for countries like Kenya – further enhancing access to the medical supplies.

 Covid-19 vaccine doses

China has so far sent 52 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to 37 African countries – out of which eight million doses were donations, according to the Beijing based Bridge Consulting firm.

With a budget line of KSh14.3 billion for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines, the approval of the Sinopharm vaccine in Kenya paves the way for both purchases and donations of the commodities from China. Kenya is now set to receive two million doses of Sinopharm vaccine with the first batch of 200,000 donated by China expected in September.

Even before the first Covid-19 case was reported in Kenya in March 2020, Kenya and China have witnessed robust cooperation towards containing the pandemic. China assisted in training Kenyan health experts on how best to leverage non-pharmaceutical approaches to control the pandemic.

China was also the main source of essential medical supplies such as protective clothing, testing kits, face masks/shields, respirators and medicine. Kenya benefited from both donations as well as direct purchases of the supplies from Beijing.

As the pandemic proved economically devastating for Kenyans, China came to the aid of Kenya through rescheduling of debt servicing so that Nairobi would have enough resources to fight the disease.

Earlier this month, Kenya alongside China and other 22 countries launched the International Forum on Covid-19 Vaccine cooperation; a new forum aimed at galvanizing international synergy to provide low resourced countries with vaccines.

Besides calling for increased vaccine production to meet the current biting deficit, the forum also created momentum for synergy in the pandemic fight that can only get better with news of Sinopharm vaccine approval in Kenya.

Twitter: @Cavinceworld