Government launches National Polio Immunization Campaign after six cases reported in Garissa

Thika,

Thursday, August 24, 2023

KNA by Muoki Charles

The government has launched a polio immunization campaign targeting four Counties of Kiambu, Nairobi, Garissa and Kajiado after an outbreak of the disease in some parts of the country.

The five-day campaign that was launched today in Ruiru Level 4 Hospital, Kiambu County will be conducted in three phases with the first round set to reach over 1.8 million children under 5 years. 

Health Cabinet Secretary Dr Susan Nakhumicha said the move comes after six cases were reported in Garissa County, all of which are linked to other viruses detected in a neighbouring Country.

She said the second and third rounds will be conducted in September and October 2023, targeting more than 5.6 million children in these four counties and an additional six others of Lamu, Tana River, Wajir, Mandera, Kitui and Machakos. 

Dr Nakhumicha said vaccination teams will be moving from house to house, vaccinating all children under the age of 5 years irrespective of their current vaccination status. 

In addition to this strategy, she said all the children seeking treatment in health facilities for other disease conditions will receive the vaccine. 

"Some vaccinating teams will specifically be deployed to temporary fixed posts like schools and churches, transit points, and high-rise buildings in urban areas to ensure that no eligible child is left out,” she said.

The CS assured that the vaccines used during the immunization have been tested and approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) and the National Quality Control Laboratory (NQCL). 

She said it is the same vaccine being used globally, and is both safe and effective. 

"Therefore, I urge all parents, guardians, care givers, civil society organizations and communities living in the areas where the campaign will take place to support our efforts and ensure that all children less than 5 years receive the polio vaccine, " she said.

Kenya reported the last indigenous polio virus case in 1984 and was subsequently declared Polio-free in 2005 after attaining the documentation requirements for a country to be certified Polio-free and has remained free from wild polioviruses for the last 10 years.

"Polio is a serious disease that causes paralysis of the limbs. For example, during the 2013 Polio outbreak in Garissa County, 14 people were paralyzed, and 2, sadly, lost their lives. As such, cases of children under 15 years showing signs of weakness of limbs, the arms and legs, and which is not due to injury, should immediately be reported to the nearest health facility, “she said.

The CS was accompanied by Health Acting Director General Patrick Amoth, US Ambassador to Kenya Margaret (Meg) Whitman, Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi among several other officials.

Amoth said statistics from the four high risk counties show that six out of ten children in Kajiado and Nairobi Counties and four in ten children in Kiambu County are not fully immunized from the basic immunization doses.

"We need to get over 95 percent vaccination rate for Polio to completely eradicate the virus," Amoth said.

Wamatangi assured of a multifaceted approach to ensure all the children in the county are immunized. All parents should have their children immunized," he said.

Courtesy; KNA