Kakamega targets to vaccinate over 1.1million children

The County Government of Kakamega is targeting to vaccinate 1.1million children in the ongoing Nationwide vaccination campaign against Measles, Rubella(MR), and Typhoid diseases.

Health workers are administering the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine to children aged between 9 months and 5 years and the Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) to those aged between 9 months and 14 years.

Speaking to the media during the launch of the Vaccination campaign at Kakamega General Hospital on Saturday, the County Executive Committee Member for Health, Livingstone Imbayi asked parents to ensure their children are vaccinated.

“For MR disease we are targeting to vaccinate over 231 000 children and slightly over 800 000 children for Typhoid fever,” the CECM added. He said health workers are well trained to administer the vaccines and would be moving from schools, churches and other designated places to reach a wider population of children.

“This exercise will still be ongoing in our health facilities, so even if the 10 days’ vaccination period elapses, parents can still take their children to health facilities to be vaccinated,” the CECM added.

He assured parents that the vaccines are safe and are meant to protect children from common diseases such as measles and typhoid that lead to high mortality rates. “Our healthcare workers are well trained for this exercise so before they administer the vaccination, they will examine the child first and offer appropriate advice to parents,” he added.

Kakamega County Immunization Coordinator Robert Chisaka noted that the county is aiming at increasing the vaccination to over 100 per cent to ensure all children are protected.

He said in 2024 the county government was able to vaccinate 82.9 per cent of the children.

“Once we reach all of them we shall be sure that these children are safe against preventable diseases, remember these are diseases that are causing high rate of mortality amongst our children and they are diseases that can be prevented and that is why it is important to prevent our children from them so that we have a healthy society,” he pointed out.

The United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF) Kenya Programme Associate Olga Nyanjom said they are providing logistics and technical capacity to enable the Ministry of Health to reach all the children in all the sub counties.

“We will be on ground for the 10 days providing this particular support to ensure that the county reaches its target of 1.1million children and we are looking forward towards a successful campaign as per the details which have been provided by the health authorities in the county,” she noted.