In an effort to vaccinate and safeguard all children under the age of 5 against polio, the Department of Health in Mandera County has launched a comprehensive immunization drive covering the entire county.
The Department of Health aims to immunize a total of 268,000 children under the age of five across all its sub-counties.
To ensure widespread coverage, specific vaccination sites have been designated, including those at the border crossing zones between Kenya and Somalia as well as Ethiopia.
Mukhtar Kassim, the County Chief Officer for Public Health, who supervised the exercise at various locations, urged heightened surveillance in the border regions to ensure the immunization of all children.
He emphasized that in the border crossing zones alone, more than 1,000 children would be immunized.
This initiative becomes crucial in light of the recent detection of the polio virus in areas of Dadaab, Garissa County.
The Department of Health is actively working to prevent the spread of the virus and protect the health of the community, particularly the vulnerable age group of children under 5 years old.
KBC Correspondent
