Favouritism has no place in Covid vaccination exercise

There are frontline workers who are afraid of being vaccinated due to concerns over the safety of AstraZeneca vaccine. [File, Standard]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reportedly promised diplomatic missions free Covid-19 vaccines.

In making the offer, the ministry said everyone who resides in Kenya, including the diplomats and the thousands of United Nations staff, should be protected.

That is true. It would be wrong to discriminate people during the vaccination exercise. Every life matters. It would be wrong for Kenya to behave like some rich Western countries which have ordered more doses of the vaccine than they need.

That said, the vaccination should not be seen to favour specific groups. Notably, the government has already outlined people who should benefit from the first batch of one million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that it received from the Covax facility on March 2.

These are the people at highest risk of contracting the coronavirus such as health workers, police officers, the elderly and teachers. People with underlying conditions should also be in this group as they are in great danger.

We are aware there are frontline workers who are afraid of being vaccinated due to concerns over the safety of AstraZeneca vaccine. It is important to dispel their fears so that they embrace the vaccine.

That said, it would only be fair if there are people in the mentioned vulnerable categories among the UN staff and diplomats who should be included in the first list of beneficiaries if their employers have not made any arrangements to vaccinate them.

As we have pointed out, many rich nations have already ordered millions of vaccine doses for their citizens. It is unlikely that such countries have not made arrangements to vaccinate their citizens who are working in their missions abroad.

We ask the government to stick to its original plan. It must move systematically by first vaccinating those who fall in the vulnerable categories. For whatever reason, it should not be seen to favour anyone because of their positions in government or for working in important organisations such as the UN.

The basic consideration for vaccinating a person should be whether their life is at greater risk; whether they fall in the categories above.

One million doses is a drop in the ocean in a nation of almost 50 million people. We cannot have it all.

No one should be allowed or encouraged to jump the line.