UPDATE 3-Kenya hails first vaccine 'bazookas', Rwanda secures Pfizer shots

* Kenya receives first 1 million AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) vaccine doses
* Rwanda secures Africa's first cold-stored Pfizer shots
* Africa lags behind other continents in vaccine acquisition

(Adds Senegal)
By Omar Mohammed and Clement Uwiringiyimana
NAIROBI/KIGALI, March 3 (Reuters) - Kenya received over a
million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday,
while Rwanda said it was the first in Africa to secure shots
from Pfizer, as efforts to inoculate the world's poorest nations
accelerated.
With fewer resources and tougher logistics than other
regions, African nations are racing to secure the doses needed
to protect their roughly 1.3 billion people and allow the safe
reopening of economies.
Africa has been relatively lightly hit by the coronavirus
compared with other regions, recording 104,000 deaths, according
to a Reuters tally, That is lower than national tolls in the
United States, India, Brazil, Russia and Britain.
Kenya's batch, which arrived on a Qatar Airways passenger
flight, is the first of an initial allocation of 3.56 million
doses by the global COVAX facility.
"We have received ... machine guns, bazookas, and tanks to
fight this war against COVID-19," Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe
exulted as the doses arrived at Nairobi's main airport.
COVAX, which is led by the GAVI vaccines alliance along with
the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners, aims to
deliver over 1.3 billion doses to 92 lower- and middle-income
countries, covering up to 20% of their populations.
Backers of the initiative hope to level a playing field that
has seen wealthier nations quickly vaccinate millions, ahead of
poorer regions. Only a few African nations have started
inoculating citizens with vaccines acquired outside of COVAX.
First shots under COVAX are arriving at several African
nations this week, including Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda.
Senegal, which received 200,000 doses developed by China's
Sinopharm last month, got an additional 324,000 shots of the
AstraZeneca vaccine on Wednesday, via COVAX. STORAGE
In Kigali, officials said Rwanda will get the first doses of
the Pfizer COVID-19 shots to be dispatched to Africa under the
vaccine-sharing scheme. The Pfizer vaccine presents an extra
logistical challenge because it requires ultra-cold storage.
The batch of 102,960 doses were due in Kigali on Wednesday,
hours after a flight landed carrying 240,000 AstraZeneca doses
from the Serum Institute of India, the health ministry said. The
government has installed special infrastructure to keep the
vaccine at -70 degrees.
"Rwanda is one of the first countries among the low income
countries to have ultra-cold chain," said Fode Ndiaye, the
United Nations' resident coordinator.
Rwanda plans to start its vaccination drive on Friday,
prioritising frontline health workers and others at high risk.
It hopes to vaccinate 30% of its roughly 12 million people
before the end of this year.
Despite Africa's comparatively low fatalities, fragile
economies across the continent are reeling from lockdowns.
Kenya, which has so far recorded 106,470 infections and
1,863 deaths, has taken a major economic hit from the virus,
which cut the flow of tourists, a crucial source of foreign
exchange and jobs.
Nairobi plans to prioritise 400,000 health workers
nationwide in a vaccination campaign starting on Friday, the
health ministry said.
It will join Ivory Coast, Ghana and South Africa among the
nations in sub-Saharan Africa to start vaccination drives.

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Senegal receives its first AstraZeneca vaccines under COVAX
coronavirus cases cross 114.88 million, death
toll at 2,654,010 on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus
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(Writing by Duncan Miriri;
Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)