Kenya is now fully stocked with vaccines following months of critical shortages that had exposed children to deadly but preventable diseases, the Ministry of Health has announced.

At the same time, the ministry has received Sh4.9 billion from the National Treasury to support continued vaccine procurement and avoid future disruptions in immunisation efforts.

The funds, part of the 2025/26 budget, will support a wider immunisation programme that targets millions of children across the country.

Health Director-General Patrick Amoth said the allocation will help end stockouts permanently, with discussions underway to safeguard the money for exclusive use in vaccine procurement.

“We are in talks with Treasury to ensure that the money allocated for vaccines is ring-fenced,” Amoth said on Wednesday during the official launch of a nationwide immunisation campaign.

He added that Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale is in direct talks with the Treasury to formalise this arrangement and protect the funds from being diverted.

In addition to the ongoing immunisation campaign, the ministry confirmed that mpox vaccines are now in the country and will soon be rolled out. “We have mpox vaccines in the country that will be deployed. This vaccine provides protection for up to five years and will be given to children aged nine months to 14 years,” Amoth said.

The announcement comes in the wake of a surge in measles cases that resulted in over 3,000 infections and multiple deaths. Health officials have attributed these losses to the earlier unavailability of vaccines.

To curb further outbreaks, the ministry has begun a 10-day national vaccination drive that aims to reach more than 15 million children with protection against measles, polio, tuberculosis and other childhood illnesses.

The effort has been bolstered by the recent delivery of 6.2 million doses of polio and BCG vaccines, which ended a long-running shortage that had threatened child health nationwide.

Amoth also revealed that Kenya has kept its commitment to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), the international body that supports vaccine access in lower-income countries.

“We have fulfilled our commitment to pay GAVI, we have paid more,” he said.

His remarks come shortly after US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared that the United States would freeze additional contributions to GAVI until it accounts for the $8 billion it has received from the US since 2001.

“Until that happens, the United States won’t contribute more,” Kennedy said.