Siaya County is angling to achieve 70 percent vaccination of residents against Covid-19.
Siaya County Immunization Services Coordinator Joshua Ndiege exuded confidence that vaccination campaign outreaches mounted prior to the elections and during the campaign period in Bondo sub-county where the uptake of vaccines had been among the lowest have borne results.
Ndiege said that current statistics by the County’s department of Health puts the coverage of those fully vaccinated within the population at 44 percent which translates to 262,000 people.
A total of 602,000 people have been reached by the Covid-19 vaccine out of which, 380,000 have received the first dose.
Siaya is currently ranked 5th out of the 47 counties nationwide in terms of vaccine coverage versus the population, a fact that Ndiege attributes to the adequate and intensified efforts to reach as many people with the vaccine especially at the height of the political wave recently witnessed across the country.
“There was no increase in Covid-19 infection cases during the campaigns and voting period; the last person admitted was discharged last Friday and as of now we don’t have any positive case reported recently and nobody admitted in our wards,” said Ndiege.
He said it has been however noted that the booster vaccination uptake is performing poorly in Siaya with only about 26,000 people having received the jab, which makes up a paltry five percent of the population.
Ndiege urged the public to continue observing the preventive protocols put in place warning that though a lot has been achieved in combating the virus the protocols play a vital role in containing the spread and infection rate.
He warned that if the public becomes lax in adhering to advisories, then the gains achieved so far might not be improved on as quickly as desired.