Kenya Begins Covid-19 Vaccine Phase 1 Clinical Trials

A New Hospital in the Capital City

Nairobi, Kenya has a new hospital equipped with 100 hospital beds and COVID-19 treating facilities to cater to those with the means to afford its health services - including diplomats and United Nations staff as it was built in collaboration with the international organisation at a cost of 8 million US dollars. However, the average Kenyan citizen affected by coronavirus will not be able to afford treatment at this state-of-the-art hospital.

The President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, seemed in high spirits about the hospital inauguration,  "This facility I believe will serve as a showcase for the United Nations in Africa and globally. It will cater to the United Nations staff and their families, the entire diplomatic community in Kenya and augment the health capacity in Kenya." Pandemic Progress?

Kenya has begun phase 1 trials of one of the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates which have been developed by the University of Oxford in partnership with the pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca. Kenya sees phase 1 trials of a coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford in partnership with the pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca.

George Warimwe, a virologist with the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Program, shared his insight into the process,   "We are going to move on to the next phase of vaccinating more participants and over time you learn more about the performance of the vaccine in our Kenyan population. Now, this is a process that all these other countries that are now in the thousands, of people vaccinated, had to go through."

This week, vaccine trials targeting 40 frontline workers began with two professionals already having undergone vaccinations