KENYA TARGETS 60% LOCAL VACCINE PRODUCTION BY 2040 AS EXPERTS WARN OF RISING DRUG-RESISTANT INFECTIONS.
BY NJOKI KARANJA
Nairobi, February 11, 2026.
Kenya has set an ambitious goal to locally manufacture 60 percent of its vaccine needs by 2040, health officials announced during the second day of the 16th Kenya Association of Public Health (KASH) Conference.
Speaking at a press briefing at Safari Park Hotel, Kenneth Mwige, Director General of the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat, said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the country’s heavy reliance on imported vaccines and underscored the urgency of building domestic manufacturing capacity.
“We had a wonderful time this morning discussing the future of vaccines and Kenya’s and Africa’s preparedness to manufacture our own vaccines to the extent of 60 percent of imports by the year 2040,” Mwige said.
He described vaccine self-sufficiency as a matter of national survival, recalling the inequities witnessed during the pandemic.
“We all learned a very serious lesson in 2019, 2020, and 2021 when the COVID-19 epidemic hit the world. That is when all the vulnerabilities were exposed — the countries that were able to get vaccines, the countries that were not able to get vaccines, and the countries that were rationed vaccines. That is when we realized that we need to be self-independent on a matter as critical as vaccines,” he said.
Mwige emphasized the transformative impact of immunization, noting that over 150 million lives have been saved globally in the last 50 years due to vaccines. “This is not a joke because it affects child mortality and it affects the health system,” he added.
As part of the post-pandemic response, the government established the Kenya BioVax Institute to spearhead local vaccine production. Mwige said the institute initially focuses on importing vaccine components for local filling and distribution, with plans to scale up to full manufacturing.
“The point of Kenya BioVax is to first get vaccines from abroad, filling them and distributing them locally, but we want to progress — and very quickly as well,” he said, expressing confidence in Kenya’s technical capacity to deliver on the target.
Kenya also aims to position itself as a regional vaccine manufacturing hub, collaborating with countries such as Rwanda, Senegal, Egypt, and South Africa.
However, while policymakers outlined long-term ambitions, researchers at the conference raised alarm over immediate health threats facing the country.
Anna Mulele, a researcher at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme in Kilifi, presented findings from a study on newborns in public hospitals, revealing a concerning rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among preterm and low-birthweight babies.
“We have used drugs to treat infections but then we have created the problem of AMR,” Mulele said. “What we are finding is that these neonates are getting infected with bacteria that is actually very difficult for doctors to treat, and there are very limited options for them.”
She noted that one bacterial strain has been linked to infections at Kenyatta National Hospital, though similar cases are being observed elsewhere. Researchers are still investigating how the infections are spreading among newborns.
“We don’t really understand how this transmission is happening within the neonates and that is what we are trying to look at,” she added.
Day Two of the KASH Conference highlighted the dual focus of Kenya’s health sector: pursuing long-term vaccine independence while urgently confronting present-day challenges such as drug-resistant infections threatening the country’s most vulnerable patients.
