Homa Bay County’s department of health is moving with speed to implement a 10 day Covid-19 vaccination campaign through a Rapid Results Initiative.
In collaboration with the African Medical & Research Foundation (AMREF) and Center for Behavior Change and Communication (CBCC) Africa, the department plans to achieve 50 per cent uptake by the end of the initiative.
Speaking in a stakeholders meeting that brought together representatives from both the national and county governments seeking for ways to ensure success of the vaccination programme through intensified social mobilisation, the area Health Services Director Gordon Okomo was hopeful that the county would hit 100 per cent vaccine uptake come December this year.
He expressed regret that the county’s uptake was relatively lower contrary to their target, which is 30 per cent. “Our county has been listed among the counties that are performing poorly in terms of vaccine uptake. This is so because only 29% of the population have been vaccinated against Covid,” said Okomo.
He noted that 300, 000 out of the targeted 568, 000 people have received the first doze, adding that there is a challenge where residents have defaulted from getting the second jab.
“A total of 93, 134 have defaulted and that has really left us worrying. Through this meeting, we have ascertained several factors leading to the huge number of defaulters and we have agreed on strategies to curb the situation,” said Okomo.
The director pointed out that school going children from the age of 12 years will also be given Covid-19 vaccine.
He urged parents to take advantage of the election holidays to ensure that their children who have been in school get vaccinated saying that students have also been categorised under the defaulters.
On his part, Emmanuel Shitemi, Project Officer at CBCC urged both expectant mothers to shun negative misconceptions about the vaccine and come out to be vaccinated.
“I would like to encourage expectant mothers to participate in the exercise without any fear because the vaccine is safe for them,” said Shitemi.
