Parents in Kisumu County have been urged to take their children for measles vaccination as the county launched the one-week campaign aimed at kicking out the disease out of the county.
Children in the age group of 9 months to 14 years are set to be vaccinated against measles-rubella between May 16 to 24.
The county executive member for health, Dr Elizabeth Ogaja, said there are numerous consequences to children who are not vaccinated.
“Measles is bad; children who are not vaccinated can go blind, can die any moment or something bad can happen. It has the greatest consequences,” she said.
Ogaja said children who fail to undergo these vaccinations are at a significantly increased risk for life-threatening diseases.
Unlike in other vaccinations, Ogaja reported that it will not be door-to-door campaign and urged parents to take their children to the nearest hospitals for the vaccination.
She announced that the county government plans to set up temporary vaccination centers across the county to reach out to children who cannot be taken to the hospital.
Speaking in Kisumu on Friday during the launch of the campaign that targets 500,000 children, Ogaja said parents should not expose their children to diseases that can be preventable through vaccination.
She further raised concerns over cases where parents due to their religion or cultural beliefs do not allow their children to be vaccinated.
Ogaja said such beliefs hamper the county’s efforts to move to zero cases of infectious diseases.
“Forget about religion, bring the child because we want the children to grow into an adult like you,” she said.