Narok: 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.
According to Kenya News Agency, 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 involved were officers from the National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO), religious leaders, media, education officers, Council of elders, youth, and women group leaders.
Beru noted that the stakeholders addressed critical issues such as barriers to routine immunization, strategies to overcome vaccine hesitancy, and mapping out additional traditional and non-traditional stakeholders at the county level who contributed to the success of the exercise. He was speaking at a stakeholders meeting held at Mara Frontier hotel to review the immunization campaign.
The meeting also highlighted challenges such as hesitancies among the educated in the society who prevented their children from being vaccinated, lack of emphasis on return dates by healthcare providers, and the sparsity of health facilities. Senior Assistant County Commission (ACC) Brian Kivuti, representing the County Commissioner's office, reiterated the importance of engaging stakeholders before administering vaccinations to build trust and confidence in the society.
Kivuti emphasized that engaging the society creates a sense of ownership and responsibility, thereby helping to build trust and confidence which increases the number of people immunized. The department of health aims to ensure a large proportion of children are vaccinated by achieving at least 90 percent immunization coverage for every vaccine. The importance of vaccination lies in reducing disease burden by preventing disease outbreaks that lead to increased hospitalizations and healthcare costs.