A five-day mass polio vaccination campaign kicked off Saturday in Garissa County targeting over 300,000 children.
The campaign, which will run up to April 16th across all the seven sub-counties of Garissa, will mainly target children at the vast Dadaab refugee camps.
The vaccines will be administered at all government medical facilities and also through door-to-door visits to ensure all targeted children are captured in the campaign’s broad coverage that is running concurrently in Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit counties and neighbouring regions in Ethiopia and Somalia.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that results in paralysis and sometimes even death. There is no known cure and vaccination is the most effective way to prevent it, offering lifelong protection. This campaign follows recent new polio cases reported along the Kenya-Ethiopia border.
Speaking at a Garissa hotel when he launched the exercise, Garissa County Acting Director of Health Abdullahi Daud urged religious leaders, the media and other stakeholders to help mobilize the public noting that ‘the vaccine is safe and effective’.
“This campaign aims to reduce new cases, disrupt transmission and curb the spread of polio. The important role played by different players specifically the religious leaders cannot be overstated,” he said.
“I want to urge you, our stakeholders, to use your platforms among them places of worship to pass the message to our people. You should help in demystifying the myth about the vaccine and re- assure our people that the vaccine is very safe,” he added.
Daud called on parents and caregivers to ensure that their children receive the vaccine even if y have received a previous dose.
Garissa Deputy County Commissioner Duncan Rono said that the local administrators would closely work with those charged with carrying out the exercise to ensure the campaign succeeds.
Sheikh Hassan Abdi from SUPKEM stressed the importance of the campaign calling on all stakeholders to make sure that it achieves 100 percent coverage.
He said that the biggest challenge has always been in the rural areas where settlements are scattered far and wide calling on the ministry to ensure that it deploys enough personnel to carry out the exercise.
“We all know that the disease causes irreversible disability to human beings. The power of a single vaccination cannot be overstated. This is the message that we should all pass to our people,” he said.
The chairman for Person with Disabilities, Garissa County Aden Hassan Bille, said that as an organization, they remained committed to advocating for disability-inclusive healthcare and reiterated the importance of protecting future generations from polio and building a more inclusive society.
Present were representatives from the Department of Education, Children’s Department, SUPKEM, Garissa Pastors Forum, youth and women leaders, civil society and the local media.
