Some 883,793 children under five are to be vaccinated against polio in a five-day campaign that starts on Saturday.
The vaccination team will today be at Pipeline where parents and guardians have been urged to ensure that their children do not miss out.
Nairobi county’s Health executive Mohamed Dagane said: “We have put everything in place to ensure that the exercise is safely conducted within the stipulated period.”
Last year, the campaign targeted 883,792 children in the city but vaccinated 976,748 children.
“We have lined-up enough teams with approximately 2,000 health care workers and over 1,800 community health volunteers and mobilisers to ensure that this activity is successful. We have diversified the areas we are targeting and I know we will be able to attain this number,” Dagane said.
Nairobi county is considered a high risk region after Wild Polio Virus Type 2 was reported in March last year in Kamukunji subcounty.
Other important preventative measures include reduction of open defaecation and increased use of latrines and toilets, improved water, sanitation and hygiene practices such as hand washing.
Polio vaccination in Nairobi is being done a few days late due to delayed vaccine shipments.
The World Health Organisation would have certified Kenya polio-free this year, but an April 6 case in which traces of polio type two virus were found in sewage in Kamukunji prevented this from happening.
This virus has also been reported in DR Congo, Syria and Papua Guinea.
It is from the oral polio vaccine to children, which contains a live, but weakened virus.
The weakened virus mutates in their intestines and is excreted as a wild or naturally occurring virus.
The US Centre for Disease Control has linked the strain to Somalia, from where it may have been brought to Kenya.
