Kenya’s 13 million vaccines order in limbo as J&J halts production

There’s uncertainty over the delivery of the 13.3 million Covid-19 doses that Kenya had ordered from Johnson & Johnson last year after the firm suspended the production of vaccines in its European plant.

J&J earlier this month temporarily halted production of the doses in Leiden, the Netherlands, the main manufacturing hub for the company.

Last week, a J&J official disclosed to the New York Times that the firm stopped production of the doses last year and had turned its attention to making another vaccine for an unrelated virus.

Despite the fact that this reduces supply by a few hundred million doses, a spokesperson said they were still planning to “fulfil our contractual obligations” related to Covax and the African Union.

The Ministry of Health and Africa CDC have remained tight-lipped on when Kenya will receive the doses it paid for or a refund of the Sh14.3 billion the country spent to procure them.

In June last year, the Covid-19 vaccine task force chair, Dr Willis Akhwale, said the government had placed an order for 10 million doses, but they expected 13.3 million since the price had gone down.

Delivery of the doses

In September, Nairobi received the first batch of 141, 600 doses, which was followed by a second shipment of 252,000 in October.

Dr Akhwale yesterday cited global manufacturing constraints as a huge challenge affecting the delivery of the doses. “The payments are done by the Treasury. It’s not a function of the task force, but the budget we presented was Sh14.3 billion.”

There are three main factories in the world that produce J&J Covid-19 vaccines. Other than the Dutch plant, there’s one in New Zealand as well as Aspen in South Africa. 

“Our doses had been coming from the ‘fill and finish’ (the process of filling vials with vaccine and finishing the process of packaging the medicine for distribution) plant in Belgium. I do not think we will be affected despite the circumstances,” he said.

South Africa’s vaccination drive last year suffered a major setback after US drug regulator Federal Drug Administration (FDA) halted production of J&J vaccines at a plant in Baltimore, which is run by Emergent Bio Solutions Inc., after it was found to be contaminated.

Consignment of vaccines

Aspen had been sourcing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to make the final product from Baltimore and was asked to destroy two million doses.

In November, Aspen signed what it described as non-binding terms with subsidiaries of the US drug maker to package and sell J&J Covid-19 vaccines in Africa.

This came amid reports that most of the J&J shots packaged at the company were going to Europe, not Africa. The European Commission at the time said the exports from Aspen’s factory were only ‘temporary’.

The deal between J&J and Aspen did not provide a technology transfer that would allow the South Africans to manufacture their own drug substance.

“I urge Aspen and J&J to complete the commitment, which is that it must include substance production within the next two years,” Mr Strive Masiyiwa, who heads AU’s Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, said.

Speaking to the Nation, Dr Ahmed Ogwell, the Deputy Director at Africa CDC, added: “It’s only one factory that has been suspended, that’s our understanding, Aspen is functioning as usual, we shall inform the government on when to expect the next consignment of vaccines, it is when you will know.”

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