The Ministry of Health announced that 1,669,759 individuals received cholera vaccinations in the eight counties, exceeding their initial target of 1,590,378, reaching a coverage rate of 104 percent.
Principal Secretary of the State Department of Public Health and Professional Standards, Mary Muthoni Muriuki said that this was an improvement from February 2023.
“The campaign was launched in response to the pressing need to curb ongoing outbreaks that have infected 12, 079 people with 200 fatalities in 27 counties,” Muriuki stated.
The selection of these counties was strategic, based on their ongoing or pronounced cholera outbreaks since October 2022. The campaign was building upon the success of the earlier campaign in February 2023, where 2,033,999 individuals were reached, achieving a coverage rate of 99.2% against the set target of 2,050,484,” she added.
The polio campaign, which came as a result of six confirmed cases was held from August 24th to August 28th, 2023. It was focused on vaccinating all children under the age of five in four high-risk counties of Nairobi, Kiambu, Kajiado, and Garissa where a total of 1,957,476 children under five received vaccinations.
The Ministry was supported in this exercise by various non-profit partners, among them World Health Organization, Unicef, Save the Children, and Kenya Red Cross.
Two more rounds of vaccination scheduled
The ministry also announced a subsequent two rounds of Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIA) scheduled for September 28th to October 2nd, 2023, and November 2023, respectively.
The ministry will also extend its scope from four counties to ten high-risk counties. The additional counties include Lamu, Wajir, Tana River. Machakos, Mandera, and Kitui, targeting 2.8 million children under the age of five.
The shortage of the vaccine comes after the World Health Organisation raised concerns in Kenya’s arid northern region stating that the impact of a prolonged and severe drought triggered the cholera outbreak.
Ideally, the vaccine is supposed to be administered in two doses. The two doses are administered 14 days apart with each dosage containing 1.5 ml of the vaccine.
However, in extreme contexts such as during outbreaks, or when there is a limited number of vaccines, a single dose of 1.5 ml is administered.
