The ministry of health is urging the public, parents and guardians to make all efforts to ensure that they receive the additional dose of the Measles-Rubella vaccine.
Following the detection of a measles outbreak in several counties, the Ministry of Health is conducting a vaccination response in 7 highest risk Counties- Garissa, Mandera, Wajir, West Pokot, Nairobi, Marsabit and Turkana, from 9th December to 18th December 2022.
The vaccination campaign that kicks off Friday and which will go on for seven days is targeting children who are between 9 months and 59 months.
Health principal secretary Eng Peter Tum who represented Health CS Susan Nakhumicha assured the residents that the vaccines are safe and urged them to ignore any contrary message.
The outbreak is a result of the accumulation of children with low immunity due to low vaccination coverage for routine measles vaccine doses.
He disclosed that the Ministry was targeting to vaccinate more than 90% of children aged 9 months with the first dose of the measles-rubella vaccine and those aged 18 months with the second dose of the vaccine.
“Our coverage for the first dose is at 87% while that of the second dose is at 57%. It is therefore not surprising that we are experiencing outbreaks, especially in areas where the coverage is below 80%,” he said.
Garissa governor Nathif Jama used the opportunity to encourage parents to avail their children of the vaccination noting that measles is a highly contagious viral disease, which affects mostly children.
“We all know that children below 5 years are the most at risk of severe disease or even death. And therefore I want to encourage all parents and guardians from across the county to have their children vaccinated because our county is among those at high risk,” he said.
Unicef’s Deputy country representative Anselme Motcho said the organization will continue supporting the vaccination campaign in order to control the outbreak, address immunity gaps and strengthen routine immunization.