Mothers urged to take children for vaccination

Vihiga, Tuesday, July 11, 2023,

KNA by Sammy Mwibanda/Tony Gisairo

Vihiga county head of preventive and promotive health services Dr. Everlyn Mwango has called on the parents to ensure children under five years were vaccinated.

Dr. Mwango said that the vaccines are administered free of charge to enable the children to develop immunity against life-threatening diseases for those in the targeted age bracket.

The vaccination is done against polio, measles, tuberculosis, pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, pneumonia, and malaria.

The officer disclosed that pneumonia and malaria are the main causes of child mortality in the western and Nyanza regions.

"The children are supposed to be vaccinated up to the age of two years but it has been allowed up to five years for parents who may fail to take their children for immunization on time,” she told KNA on Monday.

She added that there are 75 health facilities offering the vaccination and urged parents and guardians to visit them in order for the children to receive the jabs.

"These vaccines have been authenticated and verified to be safe for use by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the World Health Organization(WHO) and hence the people should not have reservations about them,” he said.

She said that the county is leading nationally at 96 per cent coverage of the targeted population according to the Kenya Democratic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2022.

Courtesy ; K. N. A