Kenya Union of Journalists wants journalists included as frontline workers in Covid_19 vaccine rollout

 

The Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) is requesting for the inclusion of journalists among frontline workers scheduled to receive Covid-19 vaccine when the vaccine rollout programme commences.

In a letter to the Ministry of Health senior officials, Erick Oduor, KUJs Secretary General said, “Journalists, have been excluded from the list. It is instructive to note that by nature of their work, journalists constantly access facilities that highly expose them to dangers of

contracting the virus, and further are at risk of becoming super-spreaders.”

He further added that, “It should be noted that in the efforts to control the spread of the virus journalists have been at the forefront in assisting the government with identification of potential hotspots as well as carrying out campaigns to turn the tide against the virus.”

Thus asking the government to make available all the possible facilities and protection to journalists.

Kenya on Tuesday night received 1.025M COVAX Covid_19 AstraZeneca vaccines, with the Cabinet Secretary for health Mutahi Kagwe saying that priority will be given to frontline workers starting with Health Care Workers who are about 400,000, followed by police, teachers and the high risk population.

Kenya has until now recorded 106,470 Coronavirus cases and 1,863 deaths.