(Adds details)
NAIROBI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Kenya is going ahead with its
plan to inoculate its citizens against COVID-19 using a vaccine
developed by AstraZeneca, a senior health ministry
official said on Thursday, dismissing concerns over its
efficacy.
South Africa paused the rollout of the vaccine developed by
AstraZeneca and Oxford University following a small clinical
trial that showed it offered minimal protection against mild to
moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 variant dominant in the
country.
That move will not deter Kenya, which says it expects to
receive 24 million doses of the vaccine beginning this month,
said Mercy Mwangangi, the chief administrative secretary at the
ministry.
"We are going to continue with AstraZeneca because we are
doing our own sequencing and we are comfortable to move forward
with it," she told Reuters.
The World Heath Organisation had also issued an advisory on
Wednesday telling countries to continue using the vaccine,
Mwangangi said, which further supports the Kenyan government's
position.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri, Editing by William Maclean)