A man receives a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday, July 6, 2021. (Photo by Patrick Meinhardt / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Kenya's health ministry on Saturday announced the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to people who have already completed their primary doses of the life-saving jabs.
In a memo sent to all regional county directors for health, the ministry directed that persons who completed their doses should take the extra shot after six months.
"This population that has been fully vaccinated should be offered an additional dose of either AstraZeneca, Moderna or Pfizer vaccine 6 months after the completion of the primary series (the same or different vaccine can be used for the additional dose)," the memo read in part.
The East African country reported that as of December 24th, a total of 9,534,806 vaccines had been administered. Of these, 5,618,295 were partially vaccinated while those fully vaccinated were 3,916,511.
Kenya's mass vaccination drive has utilized various vaccines, including the Moderna, Sinopharm, AsraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.
The country has so far received a total of 23,279,820 vaccine doses.
The health ministry pointed out that the country plans to vaccinate at least 30 million adults by the end of December 2022.