World Bank approves $130 million to help Kenya fight COVID-19

NAIROBI, Kenya

The World Bank said it has approved 14 billion shillings (about 130 million U.S. dollars) additional financing to help Kenya facilitate affordable and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The lender said in a statement released on Monday that the financing will enable Kenya to procure more vaccines through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) initiative and the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facilities.

Keith Hansen, World Bank country director for Kenya, said the additional funding comes at a critical time when Kenya is making concerted efforts to contain the rising cases of COVID-19 infections and accelerate the deployment of vaccines to a wider population.

"The upfront financing for the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines will enable the government to expand access to more Kenyans free of cost,” Hansen said.

The financial assistance will also be used for vaccine safety surveillance, training for health workers, and advocacy and communications activities to encourage COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

The East African nation has so far confirmed 282,884 total COVID-19 cases, 124,588 recoveries and 3,612 deaths as of Monday.