Kenya has unveiled a bold strategy to double its production of livestock vaccines from 35 million to 70 million doses annually by 2027, in a bid to strengthen food security and boost agricultural resilience across the region.
The announcement came during the official launch of the Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute’s (Kevevapi) Sh10.8 billion Strategic Plan for 2023–2027, held in Nyeri. Speaking at the event, Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe emphasized the crucial role Kevevapi plays in safeguarding the nation’s livestock sector and advancing Kenya’s regional leadership in animal vaccine production.
“When we went to Paris for the World Health Organization meeting, I made sure I pointed out that Kenya is an animal vaccines producer. Since then, I have received many calls from people who want to buy vaccines from us,” Kagwe stated.
Kenya currently exports vaccines to more than 14 countries. With the rollout of the new strategy, the government hopes to expand its reach further into markets like Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Djibouti, and Mali.
Kevevapi produced 177.2 million doses between 2018 and 2022, of which 11.3 million doses were exported. The new roadmap outlines major facility upgrades to align with international manufacturing standards, enabling the institute to better tackle diseases such as foot and mouth, lumpy skin disease, and Peste des Petits Ruminants—ailments responsible for significant livestock losses.
“The demand for vaccines globally is going up because of the insistence by most of the consumers to know that the animals they are eating are healthy,” Kagwe said.
“We have embarked on a mass vaccination campaign to ensure that Kenya is declared one of the countries that are disease free in the next three years.”
The Cabinet Secretary also dismissed circulating claims that the vaccines used in Kenya’s campaign were donated by philanthropist Bill Gates.
“There was propaganda about the source of our vaccines—that they were donated to us by an American tycoon. That is not true,” Kagwe clarified.
“Kenya is an exporter of vaccines. We export foot and mouth disease vaccines to other parts of the continent, so it would not make sense for us to say that we are importing the vaccines while at the same time exporting.”
Principal Secretary for Livestock Development Jonathan Mueke praised Kevevapi for aligning its strategic vision with the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, particularly its goal to improve food security and nutrition.
With this aggressive expansion plan, Kenya positions itself not only as a key player in Africa’s livestock health sector but also as a growing force in global agricultural innovation.
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