Kenya Airways Cargo's coldroom to be used for the storage of vaccines at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, on Feb. 11. Photo Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images

Kenya expects to get its first Covid-19 vaccines by the end of this month and inoculate 16 million of its roughly 53 million people by June next year, according to Health Secretary Mutahi Kagwe. 

The country will procure vaccines made by AstraZeneca Plc, Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, and any others in the Covax facility, an initiative for developing countries to access doses, Kagwe said Friday in a statement. East Africa’s biggest economy targets 24 million doses from Covax and will buy another 11 million shots from other mechanisms.

The first vaccination phase covering 1.25 million people will prioritize health, security and immigration workers.

Kenya will decide by the of next week whether to approve vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and AstraZeneca, and a Russian version known as Sputnik V, Fred Siyoi, head of the country’s drug regulatory authority, said by phone. - David Herbling, Bloomberg