All civil servants in Kenya have until August 23 to get vaccinated or face disciplinary action, the government has directed.
In a public notice, Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua warned that public servants who do not receive the vaccine by the specified date will be classified as discipline cases and will face necessary action.
Kinyua noted that COVID-19 vaccination uptake has been poor, particularly among civil servants in security, education and other core civil service sectrs.
“In a recent NSAC meeting, it was reported that there was a low uptake of Covid-19 vaccines among public servants…This is against a background of access to vaccines having greatly improved, especially among these groups,” the statement reads.
The Head of Public Service decried that poor vaccine uptake has impacted public service delivery.
The PS also complained that some civil servants were deliberately avoided getting vaccinated in order to stay away from work under the guise of working from home.
Kinyua warned that such excuses 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 1st jab by August 23, 2021, be treated as discipline cases and appropriate action taken against them,” reads an excerpt of the statement.
Kinyua further instructed Principal Secretaries and accounting officers to ensure that the directive was implemented.
