Narok County has achieved 102 percent in Measles Rubella (MR) and Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) immunization, thanks to a vibrant stakeholder engagement that led to the good performance.
The immunization for MR targeted children aged between nine months and 59 months while that of TCV targeted children between the age of nine months and 14 years.
The county officer in charge of immunization Shadrack Beru said all stakeholders were brought on board before the campaign officially kicked off from July 5th to July 14th and sensitized on the importance of mobilizing the community to accept the vaccine.
Among the stakeholders brought on board are officers from the National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO), religious leaders, media, education officers, Council of elders, youth and women group leaders.
“The stakeholders tackled critical issues like barriers to routine immunization, strategy to address vaccine hesitancy and mapped out additional traditional and non-traditional stakeholders at the county who helped the exercise to be successful,” said Beru.
He was speaking in a stakeholders meeting held in Mara Frontier hotel to review the immunization campaign.
However, the meeting pointed out challenges like hesitancies among the educated in the society who prevented their children from being vaccinated, lack of emphasis on return dates by the health care providers and sparsity of health facilities.
Senior Assistant County Commission (ACC) Brian Kivuti who represented the County Commissioner’s office reiterated the need to engage stakeholders before administering vaccinations so as to build trust and confidence in the society.
“Engaging the society creates a sense of ownership and responsibility. It helps build trust and confidence in the society hence increases the number of people immunized,” reiterated the ACC.
The department of health aims at ensuring a large proportion of children are vaccinated by achieving at least 90 per cent immunization coverage for every vaccine.
The importance of vaccination is to reduce disease burden by preventing disease outbreaks that lead to increased hospitalizations and healthcare costs.
By Ann Salaton
