•The Health Ministry has disclosed that there will be checks conducted from Thursday.
•Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has however maintained that Kenyans should take personal responsibility to save their lives.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
The government will be intensifying the implementation of the vaccination measures announced last year that requires proof of vaccination to access government services.
The Health Ministry has disclosed that there will be checks conducted from Thursday to enforce the directive in an effort to boost vaccination uptake in the country.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has however maintained that Kenyans should take personal responsibility to save their lives as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world.
“There are measures that we announced last year that we have been relaxing because we understand that not everybody has had the opportunity to be vaccinated,” Kagwe said on Tuesday.
“But we have got over 12 million doses of vaccines that are waiting to be used now in the country and because we are ready and we have got enough vaccines we will now go more intensively to vaccinate our people in readiness for whatever else is coming,” he added.
In a raft of measures announced by the ministry on November 21, Kenyans without proof of vaccination were to be denied services beginning December 21 but this was halted by the court.
The services to be affected include KRA services, education, immigration, hospital and prison visitations, NTSA and port services among others.
The ministry also announced that Kenyans will also be required to provide proof of full vaccination when seeking transport services including the use of domestic flights, the SGR, boarding matatus and buses and all regional transport means.
Similarly, drivers, conductors, boda boda riders, pilots, air hostesses and all will be required to be fully vaccinated and carry proof of vaccination at all times as well as when visiting malls.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
“The ministry is not a police state, we give proposals and we give measures that we need to take in order to save people’s lives, but by the end of the day it is each individual’s responsibility to save their own lives,” he said.
The CS added: “For instance when we say you can’t access a government institution unless you are Covid vaccinated we expect you to comply with it. We don’t expect to follow you around to make sure that that is what you have done.”
The measures also sought to ensure that all businesses including small and medium enterprises more than 50 people a day put up signage requiring proof of vaccination before entry into the premises. The patrons of these establishments will also require to be fully vaccinated.
Similarly, all indoor gatherings are required to be limited to two-thirds capacity with proof of Covid-19 vaccination of all attendance.
Visitors or tourists from the European region must be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination before entry into the country.
The measures have however been challenged by various groups including the doctors union that has maintained that the government ought to put in place measures that will ensure more Kenyans have access to vaccines rather than resorting to threats.
“Vaccination should not only be in designated point but we should also have the drive-through vaccinations in the places of work, on the streets, in the public transport regions and even in the clubs so that it becomes a way of combating this particular virus,” KMPDU SG Davji Atellah said.
According to global health expert Dr Bernard Muia, the only weapon so far against Covid-19 is vaccination and observing the existing containment measures such as avoiding crowds, masking and observing social distancing.