According to the chair of Kenya's vaccine taskforce, Dr Willis Akhwale, the country will run out of COVID-19 vaccines "anytime between the end of May and the first week of June," CNN reported on Monday.

Akhwale stated: "We have used up 91% of our doses."

Less than 2% of Kenya's population of more than 52 million have had their first shot, according to Our World in Data.

Reportedly, Kenya had received just over one million of the 3.6 million British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Inc's (LON:AZN) COVID-19 vaccine doses promised by the global vaccine-sharing alliance COVAX by May 2021, less than half of the vaccines Kenyan officials were expecting.

The Kenyan Health Ministry had initially planned to administer second doses after eight weeks, but in April, they pushed this back to 12 weeks.

COVAX , the global vaccine initiative that provides discounted or free doses for lower-income countries, is largely reliant on India's vaccine manufacturers. But with India facing its own crisis, its halted all vaccine exports.

Doctors in Kenya say a vaccine shortage will cost lives.

As a result of the shortage, Kenya's government is now working on securing 30 million vaccine doses from Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by August 2021, CNN added.