Tuesday April 28 2020
This week is World Immunisation Week. It is a time to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against diseases.
This year’s immunisation week is a little different, however, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
As the novel coronavirus persists, it continues to become clear that the health systems in the country are coming under severe strain.
Through various visits to hospitals and discussion with parents, it is evident that the fear of getting children vaccinated will ultimately cause a rise in the number of unvaccinated children.
Perhaps the biggest setback in vaccination in Kenya is the move by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) move to suspended polio vaccination campaigns. GPEI supports polio vaccination exercises in East Africa and the rest of the world.
In a statement on its website, the initiative calls on countries to postpone mass campaigns until June 1, 2020, after which the decision would be reviewed. The move is meant to divert resources to “prioritize support for the response to COVID-19”.
The statement says that GPEI assets, which include technical expertise, surveillance and community networks and logistics, should be made available to support the global response to Covid-19 for the next four to six months.
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in hours. It mainly affects children under the age of five.
Shortage and lack of polio vaccines and other vaccines in Kenya put the lives of mothers and children at great risk.
Another disease that will pose a great risk to children is measles, which is a highly contagious virus and remains one of the top vaccine-preventable killers of children.
Reported measles cases worldwide fell from more than 850,000 in 2000 to 132,000 in 2016, largely as a result of increases in vaccine coverage in the world’s poorest countries.
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