Delta spurs rush for jabs in Kenya

Gabriel Kamau, a teacher in Kenya's eastern county of Machakos, was reluctant to get a COVID-19 vaccine out of fear of possible side effects.

He's changed his mind. Swaying him was a directive by the government that all civil servants and teachers must be vaccinated. Then the severity of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus sealed the decision.

"While I still have the fear of possible side effects in the coming years, I have no choice but to get the jab in adherence to the government's directive as well as ensure that my life is not in danger in case I contract the virus," Kamau said.

He said two of his eight colleagues had been vaccinated; the others are in the process of getting the shot.

The government directive, issued on Aug 10, required the vaccinations of civil servants and teachers. Failure to comply brings disciplinary action.

Joseph Kinyua, the head of Kenya's civil service, said earlier this month that some government workers had deliberately avoided getting vaccinated in order to stay away from work under the guise of working from home.

He said those workers who took that approach had disrupted the delivery of services to the public.

The Teachers Service Commission said the vaccination of teachers would encourage others to follow suit, especially in rural areas.

In a speech during COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Nakuru county, commission chief executive Nancy Machari called on all teachers to take advantage of the vaccination drive and get protected.

"I want to assure the teachers that the quickest way for life to return to normal is for most people to get vaccinated," she said.

Macharia said that, as of Aug 14, 178,734 teachers had received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and 110,342 had been fully vaccinated.

"Given that we target to vaccinate all the 330,671 teachers on the Teachers Service Commission payroll and thousands teaching in private schools, the number so far vaccinated is still not impressive," she said.

Across check on the vaccination countrywide indicated the overwhelming vaccine response by Kenyans.

For the broader vaccination effort, demand has been strong. In the capital Nairobi, long queues are common at the 55 vaccination centers. Bookings are made the Health Ministry's website. Vaccination certificates can be downloaded from the site.

Delta is the dominant variant of the coronavirus in Kenya, where more than 230,000 infections and 4,500 related deaths have been reported. The positive rate in COVID-19 testing has been running at above 15 percent.

As of Saturday, 2.4 million people had received one does of a vaccine, with nearly 800,000 getting the second shot, data from the Health Ministry showed.