You have two weeks to get Covid-19 jab

All civil servants have 14 days to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or face disciplinary action, Head of Public Service, Joseph Kinyua has ordered.

In a circular released on Monday, Kinyua said public servants have up to August 23 to get vaccinated against the virus, observing that some had deliberately refused to take the jab so as to continue skiving work in the pretext of working from home. Kinyua said the decision to have government employees vaccinated was informed by advice from National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC).

“In a recent NSAC meeting, it was reported that there was a low uptake of Covid-19 vaccines among public servants especially the security sector, teachers and the core civil service. This is against a background of access to vaccines having greatly improved especially among these groups,” said Kinyua in a memo.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, the uptake of the second dose among priority groups is 214,722 for those aged 58 and above. At the same time 120,155 (health workers), 102,007 (teachers), 56,219 (security officers) and 205,802 categorised as others have been vaccinated.

There are about 340,000 teachers employed by Teachers Service Commission (TSC) while the private sector has 161,000 teachers according to The Kenya Private School Association (KPSA), Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndoro.

Compiling figures

Ndoro said about 91,000 private teachers were immunised during the first round of vaccination. “I haven’t compiled the figures of those who have gone for the second round,” he added.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe last Thursday urged teachers to go for the jabs saying there was enough stock for all of them including support staff. “All teachers including support staff should go for the jabs; there is no shortage of vaccines,” said Kagwe.

The security sector comprise of military, police, prison, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service and National Youth Service. It was not clear how many officers from these agencies have been vaccinated against COVID-19. More than 100,000 officers serve in the Kenya Police Service and Administration Police Service. Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai said his officers are still putting together data on the latest COVID-19 uptake.

“I will give an update soon, my teams from Kenya Police Service, Administration Police Service and Directorate of Criminal Investigations are compiling the data,” said Mutyambai.

The Prisons Service has approximately 29,000 staff comprising uniformed officers and auxiliary workers. Prisons spokesman Kennedy Aluda said about 50 per cent of the staff have received their jabs.

“Our officers were very eager to get vaccinated due to the high risk of exposure while on the line of duty. A sizeable number have taken their first and second jabs though I do not have the numbers but I can safely say the uptake is about 50 per cent,” said Aluda.

Thousands of officers working in national and county governments fall under the core civil service category. Kinyua said some civil servants were deliberately avoiding vaccination so that they can stay away from work under the guise of working from home. This habit, noted the Head of Public Service, had negatively affected service delivery.

“It has therefore been decided that all civil servants will be prioritized in the ongoing vaccination exercise and that those who will not have been given the first jab by 23rd August, 2021 be treated as discipline cases and appropriate action taken against them,” said Kinyua in his memo.

He instructed all Principal Secretaries and Accounting Officers to ensure full implementation of the decision, coming after a recent boost from the UK government of 817,000 doses to support the vaccination programme.