NAIROBI – Kenya has offered free COVID-19 vaccines to all diplomats residing there, including thousands of UN staff, although it has not completed the inoculation of its own health workers, other front-line staff or seniors who draw criticism from local doctors.
The offer was made in a March 18 letter sent by the State Department to diplomatic missions and seen by Reuters. Macharia Kamau, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, said the shots offered were delivered through the World Health Organization (WHO) co-led COVAX vaccine access scheme.
Kenya, where nearly 2,000 people have died from COVID-19, is battling a third wave, and the Ministry of Health reported 28 deaths on Friday, the highest daily toll since the pandemic began.
“We have to protect everyone living in Kenya. “It just made sense not only to reach out to Kenyans, but also to the international community here,” Kamau said.
Kamau said Kenyans in priority categories were still being vaccinated, but the decision was in line with Kenya’s responsibility as home to a large diplomatic community.
He estimated that there are 25,000 to 30,000 diplomats, UN staff and family members living in Nairobi. “We are the only UN headquarters in the global south. Once you have this kind of honor, it comes with some responsibility. ”
Nairobi hosts the UN headquarters in Africa. The UN Office in Nairobi (UNON) is one of four major websites around the world where many UN agencies such as the UNICEF Children’s Agency and others have large presence.
Just over 28,000 health workers, teachers and security personnel had received their first shots, the health ministry said in a March 19 post on Twitter. It said in early March that it would market 400,000 vaccines to healthcare professionals and other key staff.
“I think the government should focus on getting the priority population vaccinated and getting vaccine acceptance with them before opening up to diplomats,” said Elizabeth Gitau, a Kenyan doctor and CEO of the Kenya Medical Association (KMA).
The Ministry of Health asked questions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two diplomats in Nairobi, who refused to be identified, confirmed that their embassies had received the offer.
“Kenyans must be a priority,” said Chibanzi Mwachonda, head of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union.
The government memo said vaccinations would begin on March 23, and only accredited diplomats and their families were eligible.
Kenya has so far received only two batches of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines – just over 1 million via COVAX and a donation of 100,000 shots from the Indian government.
COVAX was set up to ensure that vaccines were available to high-risk and vulnerable people as well as frontline health workers in countries that could not buy shots in the highly competitive international market.
WHO referred Reuters to UNON and the Kenyan government when asked for comment.
Newton Kanhem, a spokesman for UNON, confirmed that they had received the offer and would take the government on it. He said that UNON had approx. 20,000 employees and relatives, but many were children and therefore not eligible.
“Why does the Kenyan government prioritize expatriates – who have money and can get the vaccines through their own channels – over its own people, especially the poor?” said one of the diplomats whose embassy had received the jabs offer.
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