NAIROBI: The United Nations on Sunday defended its decision to accept free Covid-19 jabs for its staff in Kenya even though the government there hasn’t finished vaccinating its own vulnerable citizens.

The offer, confirmed by UN and diplomatic sources, comes as Kenya battles a severe third wave of the virus and last week recorded its highest single-day death toll since the pandemic began. The UN Office at Nairobi (UNON), which has approximately 20,000 staff and dependants, said it had accepted the national government’s offer of free AstraZeneca jabs but stressed only those most at risk would be eligible. “It is not a wholesale vaccination of all UN staff members and their dependents,” UNON spokesman Newton Kanhema told AFP on Sunday. Registration opened Sunday for UN staff wanting the jab, with vaccinations to commence Tuesday.

Kenya is still in the early stages of inoculating its most at-risk frontline workers against Covid-19. The first doses were administered on March 5. On March 19, the health ministry said 28,000 medical workers, teachers and security personnel had received their first jab of a two-dose regimen.