NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 16- The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) says only 110,342 teachers have had full COVID-19 vaccination so far.
TSC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nancy Macharia said 81 teachers had succumbed to the virus since its outbreak in the country in March last year.
Macharia said despite being given first priority in the vaccination exercise, some teachers awere still reluctant to get the jab.
“As of 14th August 178,734 teachers had received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and you know teachers are over 300,000 and only 110,342 had been fully vaccinated. This is in spite the government having prioritized and identified teachers as frontline workers together with health, police and military officers who were targeted during round one of the inoculations,” she said.
She called on all teachers to turn out in large numbers to get vaccinated pointing out that the commission targets to vaccinate all the 330,671 teachers on TSC payroll and thousands more in private schools.
“Today, once again I am making a rallying call to all teachers; ‘Beat COVID-19 by Getting a Jab!’ …. and I want to assure teachers that the quickest way for life to return to normal is for most people to get vaccinated. We are here therefore to urge all our teachers who got the first dose to take advantage of the ongoing second dose vaccination campaign to gain full immunization,” Macharia pleaded.
“All those who have yet to be vaccinated at all must also take advantage of the current availability of vaccinations to get the jab ahead of the August 23, 2021 deadline issued by the Head of Public Service Dr. Joseph Kinyua to all civil servants.”
By Sunday, 2,033,277 people had been vaccinated countrywide among them 746,267 who got their second jab.
Last week, Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua said it is mandatory for public servants in Kenya to get the COVID-19 jab.
The new directive is contained in a confidential circular issued to all Principal Secretaries and Accounting Officers.
In the circular seen by Capital FM News, public servants are required to get vaccinated by August 23 failure to which they will face disciplinary action.
“It was also observed that some public servants have deliberately avoided being vaccinated so that they can stay from work under disguise of working from home. This has negatively affected service delivery to the public,” Kinyua stated in the memo.
President Uhuru Kenyatta was among the first to be vaccinated against COVID-19 on March 26, 2021 when the first consignment of the AstraZeneca vaccine was shipped in.
Kinyua said all public servants will be prioritized in the ongoing vaccination exercise and that those who will not have been given the first jab by August 23 will face disciplinary action.
Kenya is on Tuesday set to receive 407, 000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the United Kingdom.
British High Commissioner Jane Marriot in her Twitter account said the doses are part of the remaining half of the 817, 000 doses which President Uhuru Kenyatta secured during his visit of London last month.
“The UK has donated 817,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Kenya, with the 2nd shipment arriving tomorrow night. Last week I dropped into a surgery in Nairobi to meet the people working to keep Kenya safe and those getting their vaccine,” she tweeted.
Kenya received the first initial batch of the 410, 000 doses of the vaccine last month with Tuesdays ’s consignment set to boost the ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Health to vaccinate as many Kenyans as possible.
