It’s now mandatory for all civil servants to be inoculated against the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the government has warned.
In a recent communication to all Principal Secretaries and Accounting Officers, Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua threatened disciplinary action against public servants who would not have received their first Covid-19 jab by August 23, 2021.
Kinyua noted that the government was forced to make the decision due to slow uptake of the vaccine among public servants especially the security sector, teachers and the core civil service despite increased access of the vaccines to the groups.
“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,” Kinyua said in a circular dated August 5.
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According to Kinyua, it had been observed that some civil servants deliberately avoided getting vaccinated so that they can stay away from work under the guise of working from home.
This, he said, had negatively affected service delivery to the public.
“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 la jab by 23rd August 2021 be treated as discipline cases and appropriate action taken against them,” he added.
“Principal Secretaries/Accounting Officers are hereby instructed to ensure full implementation of this decision.”
Statistics released by the Ministry of Health yesterday indicated that a total of 1,804,375 free vaccines have so far been administered across the country.
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Of these, total first doses are 1,105,470 while second doses are 698,905.
“The uptake of the second dose among those who received their first dose is at 63.2% with the majority being males at 55% while females are at 45%, ” said Health CS Mutahi Kagwe adding that the proportion of adults fully vaccinated is 2.6%.
The total number of Covid-19 cases confirmed in the country so far stands at 212,573 from 2.2 million tests conducted.
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