Siaya is seeking to achieve 70 per cent vaccination of residents against Covid-19.
County Immunization Services coordinator Joshua Ndiege said vaccination campaign outreaches mounted prior to the election and during the campaign period in Bondo subcounty, where the uptake of vaccines had been among the lowest, had borne results.
Ndiege said current statistics by the health department put the coverage of those fully vaccinated within the population at 44 per cent, which translates to 262,000 people.
Some 602,000 people have been reached by the Covid-19 vaccine out of which 380,000 have received the first dose.
Siaya is ranked fifth out of the 47 counties nationwide in terms of vaccine coverage versus the population.
Ndiege attributing this to adequate and intensified efforts to reach as many people as possible with the vaccine, especially at the height of the campaigning period.
“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,” he said.
Ndiege said the booster vaccination uptake is performing poorly in Siaya, with only about 26,000 people having received the jab-a paltry five per cent of the population.
Ndiege urged residents to continue observing the preventive protocols put in place, saying although a lot has been achieved in combating the virus, the protocols play a vital role in containing the spread and infection rate.
He said if the public becomes lax in adhering to advisories, then the gains achieved so far might not be improved on as quickly as desired.
