The Ministry of Health has procured more than eight million doses of vaccines to mitigate a shortage in the country.
The routine childhood vaccines including BCG, oral polio, tetanus-diphtheria and measles had reached critically low levels.
The doses were procured after allocation of Sh1.25 billion by the National Treasury.
Th shortage had raised fears of a possible surge of vaccine-preventable ailments and deaths especially among children aged below five years.
According to the ministry, the procurement includes 1,209,500 doses for measles rubella, 3,032,000 doses for oral polio, 1,000,000 doses for tetanus-diptheria vaccines and 3,129,000 doses of BCG.
Medical services PS Harry Kimtai said the vaccines received are currently being processed for urgent distribution to the nine regional vaccine stores across the country.
“To expedite this process, the ministry has engaged additional refrigerated trucks to ensure these life-saving vaccines reach our health facilities and communities by the second week of June,” Kimtai said.
The ministry is now calling on healthcare workers to collaborate with community health teams to ensure all children who missed vaccinations return to the facilities and catch up on their immunisation schedule.
“We also urge all caregivers to bring their children back to the facilities for immunisation as vaccine supply has now normalised in the country,” Kimtai said.
Kimtai said more engagement is going on with the National Treasury to ensure increased and dedicated resources are allocated to the immunisation programme to ensure a stable supply.
Last month, Kimtai acknowledged reports of vaccine shortages affecting routine antigens in health facilities nationwide.
“We are aware of reports of vaccine shortages of routine antigens across health facilities in the country,” he said.
There have been stockouts of key vaccines, with less than two months of stock available nationally for traditional vaccines.
The PS acknowledged that the stockouts have put children and vulnerable populations at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases and potential outbreaks.
