11 counties put on alert for vaccine-derived polio
Eleven counties have been flagged as having the greatest risk of outbreak of vaccine-derived polio.
Specialists say there is a build-up of thousands of under-immunised children in these regions.
The situation is further compounded by the Covid-19 where immunisation levels sank to low levels.
Based on risk analysis, Mombasa, Nairobi, Lamu, Tana River, Garissa, Wajir, Marsabit, Killifi, Turkana, Isiolo and Mandera have been put on alert.
“This build-up of under-immunised children has previously contributed to outbreaks of polio. Most of these children come from poor families, urban informal settlements, and hard-to-reach parts of the country, particularly arid and semi-arid regions, where access to health services is limited,” Dr Josephine Ojiambo, a community medicine and public health specialist, says.
The last mass vaccination campaign in July last year targeted 2.6 million children aged 0-59 months in 11 counties.
Dr Ojiambo said, “Missing the polio vaccine places children at high risk for more problems in the future. Vaccines are the best way to keep children protected and healthy.”
She spoke in Nairobi during a joint polio immunisation exercise between Rotary Kenya and Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital at Githogoro Slums.
Kenya last reported the vaccine-derived poliovirus in April 2018, when Kenya Medical Research Institute scientists found live polioviruses in sewage samples from Eastleigh estate in Nairobi.
On rare occasions, if a population is seriously under-immunised, an excreted vaccine-virus can continue to circulate for an extended period of time. The longer it is allowed to survive, the more genetic changes it undergoes.
In very rare instances, the vaccine-virus can genetically change into a form that can paralyse – this is what is known as a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV).
Recently, two cases of the circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 were reported in Sudan. Both cases involved children under four years of age. The disease, which causes disability, has no cure but can be prevented through the administration of a simple and effective vaccine.
Getrude’s Children’s Hospital CEO Robert Nyarango, said, “The increase of cVDPV in the region can be addressed by ensuring 100 per cent immunisation for all children and enhancing water, sanitation and hygiene in high-risk populations.”
Speaking at the same event, Hillary Limo, National Disease Surveillance officer at the Ministry of Health, explained that apart from polio, lack of vaccination also exposes the children to the risk of the other infectious diseases such as measles and tuberculosis.
Limo said the ministry will intensify surveillance activities to detect any possible outbreaks and will continue to collaborate with like-minded institutions to conduct countrywide polio vaccination campaigns to help boost child immunity against the virus. The campaign targets children under the age of five years.

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