Kenya has received its first batch 1.02 million units of the AstraZeneca vaccine to inoculate the frontline workers and the vulnerable citizens.

The vaccines which were ferried by Qatar Airways plane flight QR1341 touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Tuesday at 11.50 pm and were received by a delegation led by the Kenyan minister for health Mutahi Kagwe.

Speaking to the media, Mr Kagwe said the vaccines were acquired after UNICEF and World Health Organization helped Nairobi push a deal through. Kagwe added by pleading with Kenyans to continue observing the health safety protocols saying the country is still stuck in the middle of the crisis.

Kenya has lined up the frontline health workers, police officers and teachers as the first line of recipients of the jab.

These groups will then be followed by the vulnerable Kenyans who will receive the jab to protect them from developing severe illness.

459,000 doses of the total 1.02 million Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines will be sent to level six and level four hospitals.

Also lined up are Level six hospitals which will get 33,000 doses, while the military facilities will get 21,000 doses.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, like others, is administered eight weeks apart in two injections. Kenya expects to inoculate 1.25 million people in phase one, 9.76 vulnerable people in phase two and at least 4.9 million people in the third phase.