A total of 345,000 teachers have taken the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine over the last one month, surpassing the government target of 330,000 teachers.

The latest report by the Ministry of Health shows that 345,000 teachers in public schools have taken the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, while 125,274 had completed both doses.

The remaining teachers are expected to take their second dose in the next two weeks in line with the six week window advised by health experts.

National Covid-19 vaccine deployment task force chairman, Dr Willis Akhwale yesterday attributed the increased uptake of the doses to the improved flow of vaccines into the country.

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“We have witnessed a high uptake of the first dose by teachers in the last one month,” he said last evening as 204 people tested positive for the disease from a sample size of 2,963 tested in the last 24 hours.

The positivity rate remained at 6.9 percent for two days consecutively.With the improved supply of vaccines, already 150,000 teachers in private schools have also taken the first dose after the government expanded the vaccination target to this group.

Another consignment of AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in the country yesterday when the government received 210,000 doses from Poland.

“The arrival of the doses is a welcome boost to the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination programme,” Dr Akhwale said as the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) plans to commence phase one of the private sector led Covid-19 vaccinations tomorrow.

He said the event will be presided over by Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache and Chief Administrative Secretary, Dr Mercy Mwangangi.

Kepsa chairperson Flora Mutahi and CEO Carole Kariuki will give an elaborate plan and modalities put in place to ensure a maximum number of employees are vaccinated in the shortest time possible.

Dr Akhwale confirmed yesterday that half of the 141,600 J&J vaccine doses received last week were allocated to Kepsa which had mobilised Sh1 billion for the procurement through the Africa Union platform.

Already, a total of 3,099,807 vaccines have been administered across the country as of Sunday.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said last evening that of these, total first doses were 2,270,827 while second doses were 828,980.

“The uptake of the second dose among those who received their first dose was at 36.5 per cent with the majority being males at 56 per cent while females were at 44 percent,” he added. The proportion of adults who are fully vaccinated hit 3.04 per cent.

An estimated 137, 115 health workers; 125, 274 teachers and 70, 182 security officers have been vaccinated so far. Those aged 58 years and above who have been vaccinated are, 244,998 and 251,411 others.

On August 17, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) gave teachers seven days to go for the jab or face disciplinary action.

“We will be asking our county directors and regional directors the number of teachers they have facilitated to get the vaccination and how many teachers are not vaccinated and for whatever reasons, because the Ministry of Health has assured us that there are enough vaccines,” Nancy Macharia, the Commission Chief Executive Officer said.

By then, only 33 per cent of the teachers had been vaccinated. However, immediately the directive was issued, the following day teachers thronged vaccination centres to beat the deadline.

Health officials had warned that school children are at risk if teachers and staff are not vaccinated.Macharia expressed concern with the ‘reluctance’ amid the slow pace that had been witnessed so far.

She said the number of those who had taken both the first and second doses, was inspiring and needed to be enhanced.

She raised concern that teachers had not fully embraced the vaccine despite the government placing them among the frontline workers, therefore, putting them on top of the priority list as far as mitigation measures are concerned.

An estimated 178,734 and 110, 42 teachers had received their first and second doses respectively by August 14.

Tutors have seven days to comply with State directive to get vaccinated or forfeit their August remuneration.

More than 200,000 teachers risk missing out on their August salaries for failing to take the Covid-19 jab.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) gave the tutors, from both public and private schools, seven days to take the full dosage of the Covid-19 AstraZeneca Vaccine in line with a directive by Public Service head joseph Kinyua that all pubic servants take the TSC doses or face unspecified disciplinary measures.

Yesterday, TSC Secretary Dr Nancy Macharia revealed that only 110,342 teachers have received full dosage since the exercise began, against the government target of 130,671.

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Another 178,734 had only taken the first dose, the teachers employer announced yesterday. Macharia termed the figures far from impressive and gave those yet to get the jab seven days to comply.

She regretted that the number is still low despite the government having prioritised and identified teachers as frontline workers together with health, police and Military officers, who were targeted during phase one of the vaccination

A well-placed source at the TSC headquarters who sought anonymity revealed that the commission may consider a raft of disciplinary measures against those who do not comply with the directive.

“What TSC is doing is to enforce the Kinyua directive among teachers, failure to which there will be penalties such as withholding the next salaries for those who will not have taken the jab upon the expiry of the seven-day notice,” said the source.

Last week, the government ordered all civil servants to take the jab within two weeks or risk disciplinary action after only a few volunteered to take the jab.

Kinyua accused some State officials of deliberately refusing to get vaccinated so that they can stay at home, negatively affecting service delivery.

“In our recent meeting, it was reported that there was a low uptake of covid-19 vaccines among public servants” said Kinyua.

“It has therefore been decided that all the civil servants will be prioritised in the ongoing vaccination and that those who will not have been given the vaccination by august 23^rd will be treated as disciplinary cases and appropriate action will be taken against them,” he added.

Kinyua directed principal secretaries and accounting officers to ensure the directive is adhered to. It is against this backdrop that Macharia, as the TSC accounting officer, Issued yesterday’s warning.

TSC boss Launched a rallying call to all teachers to beat covid 19 by getting the jab.

Mass Covid-19 vaccination for teachers starts today across the country.This as reports indicate that distribution of the examination papers starts this week to the 479 containers that will be used to store the same.

Selection and training of invigilators and holding of county sensitization meetings are all scheduled to end this week.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia said 227,679 teachers have been vetted and approved to administer examinations as supervisors and invigilators.

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It was, however, not clear whether all the teachers who will take part in the administration of the national examinations will have been vaccinated by end of this week.

Macharia said last week that a meeting was scheduled with ministry task force for vaccine deployment to negotiate further details.

“We are also hopeful that all the teachers who will be invigilating and supervising examinations will have been vaccinated ahead of the start of the tests,” said Macharia.

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What is, however, certain is that all the 15,000 teachers who fall between the age bracket of 58 years and above will get the injection starting today across the country.

Willis Akhwale, the chairman of the Covid-19 task force for vaccine deployment, said the vaccination will target teachers who are 50 years and above.

“We have limited stocks of the vaccine. Hence we prioritise groups. We are targeting those most at risk with the aim of saving lives. And teachers fall in this category of most at risk,” said Akhwale.

Macharia said identification of teachers who fall within the bracket has started. “We had planned for the 58 years and above so our field officers will identify these teachers for the exercise,” she said.

It is not clear whether teachers who do not fall within then said age bracket but have underlying conditions will get the jab.

Speaking last week during the launch of the vaccination exercise for teachers, Akhwale said: “We are expecting to receive another batch of about one million vaccines and these teachers will be considered at that time.”

Teachers have been requested to present themselves to the designated 575 centres for vaccination.

These include private, public and mission hospitals. Teachers will need to identify themselves at the facilities.

“Teachers will be vaccinated on identification. A system is being created to allow for pre-registration, which means they can select the post and date for vaccination,” said Akhwale.

The Ministry of Health identified teachers as among the frontline workers to get vaccination during the first phase of the exercise.

Macharia thanked President Uhuru Kenyatta for recognising teachers as frontline workers.

“This was the right decision to protect 330,671 teachers working in public schools and 158,000 in private schools,” she said.