The government has announced that teachers aged 50 and above would be given priority in getting the Covid-19 vaccine.
While launching the vaccine for teachers on Thursday, March 11, the Covid-19 Vaccine Advisory Taskforce Chairman Willis Akhwale noted that the teachers would be drawn from both public and private schools during the exercise.
"575,000 posts have been identified to support the vaccination process. It is important for teachers to work with health authorities in counties to identify teachers above 50 years," he stated.
To be eligible for the vaccines, the teachers will also have to produce identification documents as well as a Teachers Service Commission (TSC) number to register.
During the event, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia revealed that it had lost 41 teachers and three secretariat staff to Covid-19 complications since March 2020.
"We have 15,000 teachers who are aged above 58 and above and they will be the first to benefit. We will work on the data and forward it to the Ministry of Health," she disclosed.
Earlier on, The Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha) requested the government to allow old teachers and those with underlying conditions to get priority in the Covid-19 vaccination rollout for teachers.
"After these two categories of people, headteachers should be next in line because they interact with teachers and outside stakeholders such as parents and suppliers," Kepsha chairman Johnson Nzioka advocated.
He further proposed that teachers who will be administering the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, should also take the jab, arguing that the teachers will travel widely and interact with a lot of people.
Phase one of the covid-19 vaccine rollout has commenced with health workers, teachers and non-teaching staff in educational institutions; uniformed forces (police, military and prisons officers); immigration officers and instructors in religious institutions among the first selected to get the dose.
"I urge all Kenyans to be calm and follow the guidelines we shall be issuing with regard to the vaccines. When the time for the entire population to be vaccinated comes, I will urge all Kenyans to take advantage of this opportunity and get this jab," CS Kagwe advised during an address on Wednesday, March 10.
