JAMILA’S MEMO: Intimidate the virus, not the people

Now in case you haven’t received the memo, getting a Covid-19 vaccine is now mandatory here in Kenya. By December this year, you will not be served in any government office if you do not have a covid 19 vaccination certificate.

No local airline or SGR train will carry you to any destination without that certificate. In short, lazima kila mtu apewe chanjo la sivyo hayo yote yatakupata. This directive by the government has rubbed many the wrong way.

Some Kenyans say they do not want to get the vaccine and should not be forced to do so. Various reasons are being given for this hesitancy; some have to do with beliefs, stories they have heard about those who have got it, or just not wanting this foreign substance in their bodies.

I heard one reason from someone that shocked me. This gentleman said he would not get the vaccine because he believed everyone who got it would die in two years. Yes! that is what he said.

The Kenyan office of the human rights lobby, Amnesty International, has urged the government to use other ways to address the vaccine uptake and not link it to public services.

And they have a point because, are we saying that we have run out of ideas on how to make people see the need for a COVID-19 vaccine, that we now resort to threats? Are we now unable to communicate in a compelling enough fashion for people to get it?

Remember at some point we were grappling with not having enough vaccines. Availability was a big issue, we spoke about vaccine apartheid…We did not have enough vaccines, and some of those that were available were being given through back doors and favouritism. Now that we seem to have enough, why resort to threats to get people to get the all-important shot in the arm? We can’t move from vaccine apartheid straight to threats.

 This, ladies and gentlemen, has always been the problem in Kenya’s fight against COVID-19. The government easily falls back on threats and intimidation every time its communication does not seem to hit the right chord.

The point is simple: people need to be made to understand what the vaccine does and why it is important. That it protects an individual from the extreme effects of the Covid-19 disease and significantly reduces the need for hospitalisation and the possibility of death.

Over 5000 people have died from the disease here in Kenya, thousands of others had to spend weeks or even months in ICU wards and did not leave the hospital bed unscathed. Livelihoods were lost, the economy affected, lives changed for many and not for the better.

We are still trying to learn how to live with the Corona Virus, life has to somehow go on. Yes, in the past 18 months a lot has changed, we now have social distancing, wearing masks, things we never had to do before. We all crave normalcy, and the only way we can go back to normalcy is through the vaccine.

Those who have been able to travel internationally were only able to do so after having a vaccination certificate. And for those who say international travel is not for you, that’s fine, but you owe a responsibility to the other person. Lazima umjali mwenzako, ujali maslahi yake.

It’s not right to mingle with people when you could be carrying this highly communicable disease. Remember Hali hii ni yetu sote, sio yako peke yako; It is about responsible citizenship.

This is what people should be told. That the vaccine is as necessary as the jabs we were given as kids and the ones we are giving our children now.  A newborn is given a jab soon after birth, the importance of this and others that babies are given cannot be understated. It is a medical imperative.

For those who have travelled and been requested to carry a yellow fever certificate, understand that its a travel requirement and willingly get the jab.

The government’s efforts to get vaccines should be commended. Close to 7 million people have already got at least one dose of the vaccine, and the government plans to have 27 million people fully vaccinated by next year. A great plan.

Now there needs to be a national campaign and ways to make the vaccine as accessible as possible, so that people don’t have to queue for long to get the shot in the arm. So, please let’s talk, threats just won’t do.