WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday shipped more than 2 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to Kenya and Ghana on Thursday through the COVAX global distribution program, a White House official said.
The United States sent 880,320 doses to Kenya, bringing the total number of doses sent to the African country to just over 1.76 million, the official said. It sent 1,229,620 doses to Ghana, the first shipment to that country.
Thursday’s shipments were the latest installments in a U.S. vaccine diplomacy push that has sent vaccines to dozens of countries.
The doses are being delivered through COVAX, jointly run by the World Health Organization and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).
Africa has lagged sharply behind other regions in vaccinating its citizens, with most countries reporting single-digit vaccination rates, compared with much higher double-digit rates in advanced economies such as the United States.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Robert Birsel and Gerry Doyle)
