The Government has made good its pledge to KEMRI by advancing Kes. 100 million to establish a training hub for vaccine manufacturing in the country.

The pledge for funding was made by President William Ruto during his recent tour of Brussels in Belgium during which the president announced Kenya’s commitment to have local training hub for manufacturing of vaccines and other medical products as a top priority for his government.

The funding to KEMRI will be used to recruit the first cohort of trainees in vaccine manufacturing who will include highly talented graduating students from local universities competitively recruited to join KEMRI for the programme.

As part of the curriculum, the trainees will be attached to vaccine manufacturing companies in Europe, Korea and Japan to for in-depth practical exposure.

The program shall also recruit Kenya postdoctoral fellows from the diaspora to work with KEMRI to carry out Research and Development Projects under KEMRI scientists on vaccine development.

 “We have a very highly talented team of Kenyans out there in USA, Canada, Europe among others who are completing or have completed their PhD programs in vaccine and drug research that KEMRI will be reaching out to,” Prof. Elijah Songok, Acting Director General, KEMRI said while welcoming the government’s move to fund the initiative.

“Many of them are looking for a way to contribute to such home initiatives but there has been limited platforms for engagement. KEMRI shall provide one such an avenue,’’ Prof. Songok intimated.

Apart from the lessons learnt from the COVID-19, Kenya is racing against time to be self sustainable in vaccine. GAVI (Global Vaccine Initiative) the organization that has been supporting Kenya and other countries to access affordable vaccines for their Immunization programs shall cease support from 2027.