Study: Nurses and lab techs least likely to accept the jab

About 30 percent of health workers are reluctant to take Covid-19 vaccines citing safety concerns, need for more information, fear of side effects, and lack of trust in the government or the vaccine.

Others claim that the short duration that vaccine development has taken and concerns on efficacy make them jittery. Perceived low risk of infection, an expectation of herd immunity, concerns why healthcare workers should be vaccinated first before politicians and other populations, and a fear of the unknown, also account for reasons why medics are shunning the vaccine.

Compared to other medics, nurses and laboratory technicians were more likely to decline the vaccine, according to the study by the University of Nairobi.

Despite the concerns, the study shows that the majority (71 percent) of medics would take the vaccine if it was offered for free by the government. Demand for the jabs has spiked in the last two weeks amid jitters occasioned by the third wave marked by rising infections and fatalities. Kenyans, mostly those who are not on the priority list, have embraced the shots.

Doctors were most likely to accept the vaccine (76 percent) while nurses least likely (64 percent). Medical associations have expressed full support for the vaccine roll out but have in the same breath decried lack of inclusivity and poor messaging on the part of the Ministry of Health.

Appearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Health chaired by Mr Ledama Olekina, medical associations and unions cited vaccine hesitancy for the low uptake among health professionals and the general population.

According to data from the Health ministry, just 82,150 (34 percent) of medics had been vaccinated as of April 1.