The Garissa county assembly has been urged to create legislation compelling parents and guardians to ensure all children under five are immunised.
Members of the Assembly budget committees have also been asked to allocate a stand-alone budget for immunisation.
Over 5,000 children were not immunised during a mass immunisation exercise conducted last year.
Statistics show that the numbers would have been extremely low were it not for a rapid response initiative that pushed the figures to 78 per cent in 2018 up from 55 per cent in 2017.
Speaking on Friday at a sensitisation forum for policymakers in Garrisa, Zahara Hussein, a programme officer at Sisters Maternity Home (SIMAHO) decried the increasing number of unimmunised children in the county.
“We are putting the lives of these 5,000 children at risk. A deliberate effort must be put in place to ensure no child under five is not immunised,” Hussein said.
“I am urging members of the county assembly to prioritise this issue and allocate funds to capture all children in the county,” she said.
Hussein said insecurity had led to the closure of public health facilities especially in far-flung areas denying children immunisation services.
She added that nomadic ways of life among the local communities and a lack of medical staff have compounded the problem.
“We must come up with mobile clinics to follow the nomads on the move in search of pasture and water for their animals,” she said.
Hussein appealed to the county government to make immunisation a continuous exercise.
County executive for health Ahmed Nathir said the county should look into the matter and come up with legislation.
The MCAs present promised to organise forums in their respective wards during the recess.
They said they will allocate more funds to the health docket.
According to a 2018 report from Kenya Expanded Programme on Immunization (KEPI) vaccination against measles and rubella virus in Garissa county stands at 36 per cent followed by tetanus at 54 per cent while polio leads with 81 per cent coverage.
(Edited by O. Owino)
