Only seven per cent of eligible Meru girls have been vaccinated for the human papillomavirus through a campaign rolled out by the government last year.
Vaccine advocates are worried that the girls are at a higher risk of getting cervical cancer if they miss out on the jab.
Mt Kenya West head of sensitisation David Nderitu said disinformation, demonisation by clerics and parents' unwillingness to let girls be vaccinated were to blame for the slow uptake.
Speaking to the Star on Tuesday, Nderitu said they will involve community health volunteers in reaching out to the villages.
He said lack of health facilities in interior villages, fridges to store the vaccines in some hospitals, unreliable electricity and lack of staff have also slowed the drive.
Human rights activist Salecio Thuranira urged parents to ensure their girls are immunised.
He said many people seem to be ignorant of the HPV vaccine useful in preventing cancer.
Nderitu said the vaccine is free of charge in the government facilities whereas it costs not less than Sh200,000 in private facilities.
He urged people to eat healthy diets to avoid lifestyle diseases that have been forgotten since Covid-19 struck.
“Stop frequent eating of indomie and other such foods,” he said.
Nderitu urged parents to also get their children immunised against preventable diseases like polio, measles and TB.
Benjamin Kobia, the community health services coordinator, said Meru ranks third in TB cases out of the 47 counties.
He said there have been challenges of parents and patients defaulting on or refusing to take TB medicines.
