UPDATE 1-Kenya says first batch of COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in March

(Adds details, background)

NAIROBI, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Kenya's first batch of COVID-19
vaccines will arrive in the first week of March, the presidency
said on Thursday, with healthcare workers, frontline workers and
vulnerable population groups to be given priority.

"Cabinet ratified the distribution framework for the
vaccines; with first priority being given to Health Care
Workers, Frontline Workers including Security Personnel and
Teachers, vulnerable persons and groups and Hospitality Sector
Workers," the presidency said in a press release.

The statement did not reveal details of the type of vaccines
or the quantity of the doses that will arrive next month.

In January, the health ministry said that it was seeking an
extra 11 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, on top of 24
million already ordered that it planned to source from major
pharmaceutical manufacturers like Pfizer and Johnson &
Johnson.

It said then that the extra doses will be acquired through
the African Union's disease control and prevention body.

The African Union has been trying to help its 55 member
states buy more doses in a push to immunize 60% of the
continent's 1.3 billion people over three years.

Last week, its vaccine team said 270 million doses of
AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines
secured for delivery this year had been taken up.

On Wednesday, Ghana became the first African country to
secure vaccines through the World Health Organization's global
vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, acquiring 600,000 doses of the
AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of
India.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; writing by Omar Mohammed; Editing
by Steve Orlofsky)