NAIROBI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- About 90 percent of teachers in Kenya are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Ministry of Health said in an update released on Friday.
According to the Ministry of Health, they targeted to vaccinate 480,681 teachers and 89 percent of them have received the jab. Kenya has close to 500,000 teachers in both private and public schools.
A majority of them, some 370,000, are employed by the government in public kindergarten, primary and secondary schools. By mid-August 2021, according to the Ministry of Health, only 33 percent of teachers were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Increased awareness on the importance of taking the jab, ultimatums from the government and taking vaccines to learning institutions have helped accelerate the uptake of vaccines by the tutors.
By taking the vaccines in droves, Kenyan teachers have followed in the footsteps of their counterparts in the health sector, where 100 percent of the targeted number has been vaccinated.
The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Kenya has surpassed the 13 million mark as the country continues its nationwide inoculation efforts. The ministry launched a mass vaccination drive on Thursday, aiming to vaccinate at least one million people daily for the next 14 days.
The country plans to fully vaccinate 19 million adults (70 percent of the adult population) by the end of June. ■