By Faith Nyasuguta
The Kenyan government will deny unvaccinated citizens services in government institutions and also entry into bars during the upcoming festive season.
In what is projected to spur anxiety ahead of the December holidays, Kenya’s Health Cabinet Secretary(CS) Mutahi Kagwe directed that those seeking public services be fully jabbed to ensure the country does not close down over high Covid-19 cases.
According to the CS, people will have to prove their vaccination for admission into hotels, bars and restaurants, national parks and even game reserves by December 21.
He added that only those that have received both shots of the vaccines including AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna or the single shot Janssen jab will be allowed to access government services or travel countrywide.
“I want to let Kenyans know that next month drivers, and boda boda riders will be required to ask that you show proof of being vaccinated before you can travel,” Kagwe said.
“Governments in other countries are debating whether to re-impose strong restrictions as we head to the festive season and so should we. We know that during the festive periods many of the known measures against the virus such as social distancing can easily get overlooked as people make merry,” he added.
CS Kagwe directed that everyone in the travel industry be vaccinated and carry proof at all times in a measure that would be coordinated by the Ministry of Transport among other stakeholders.
Further, all those travelling to Kenya will have to carry a Covid-19 vaccine certificate just like in countries like Spain, Iran, Italy, Denmark, Israel and Germany, as a measure to avert high Covid-19 infection rate.
“Visitors, tourists, travellers from the European region must be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination before entry to the country,” he said.
MASS VACCINATION
To spur increased inoculation, the ministry will undertake a 10-day mass vaccination exercise starting November 26 in a bid to vaccinate as many residents as possible.
So far, Kenya has recorded over 254,000 Covid-19 cases with over 5,000 fatalities.
According to Kagwe, the nation would not reimplement harsh regulations to contain the virus and that teenagers will get the Pfizer vaccine from next week, in a bid to boost the number of vaccinated Kenyans.
As per the latest situation report, there has been a total of 254,057 cases, 146,966 (58 per cent) are male and 107,091 (42 per cent) are female. Majority are people aged between 30 and 39.
Men have had a higher crude death rate than women and out of a total of 5,314 deaths, 3,406 (64 per cent) were male. This comes amid more men being vaccinated at 1,021,942, with women at 902,762.
