Kenya rolls out polio vaccination drive

NAIROBI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) — Kenya’s Ministry of Health on Monday announced a five-day vaccination campaign targeting 3.84 million children under 10 years of age to protect them against polio.
In an effort to prevent the spread of the mutant poliovirus type 2, 2.02 million children under the age of 10 and 1.82 million children under the age of five will receive polio vaccinations starting Wednesday.
Mary Muriuki, principal secretary in the Ministry of Health, said that the campaign will be conducted in high-risk regions across Kenya. She said that Kenya is responding to an outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2, which has been detected in four children living in the Kakuma refugee camp in northwest Kenya, as well as in the neighboring host population.
According to the health official, a polio type 2-positive sewage sample was discovered in Nairobi County during environmental surveillance, indicating that the virus has spread beyond its original areas.
Muriuki said that the Ministry of Health has alerted all high-risk counties to remain vigilant, with a particular focus on counties in western Kenya, due to the detection of type 2 polio in Uganda’s Mbale District. ■