High Court suspends government's mandatory vaccination directive

The high court has suspended a directive from the government seeking to bar unvaccinated Kenyans from accessing in-person government services from December 21.

The ruling was in response to a petition filed by businessman Enock Aura under a certificate of urgency to have the court stop the government from implementing the directive which he termed as unconstitutional and discriminatory.

While reading the ruling, high court judge Anthony Mirima stopped the implementation of the directive pending hearing and determination of the case.

The government through the Ministry of Health had issued the directive to encourage more Kenyans to take the vaccine in November as it races to meet the 10 million vaccination target it had set to meet by December 25.

Following criticism from various quarters, the Cabinet secretary for health Mutahi Kagwe had earlier defended the directive saying that the ministry has to protect the vaccinated from the vaccine especially with the new Omicron variant.