The Nakuru county government on Thursday urged residents who have already received the Covid-19 vaccine to go for a booster shot to have improved protection against coronavirus.
County Executive Officer for Health, Kariuki Gichuki said the first phase of the Covid-19 booster jab drive had started at the Nakuru Level 6 Hospital, adding that the advanced vaccination would be rolled out in all public and private hospitals in the region.
He clarified that the booster shot was meant for people who had received the initial Covid-19 vaccinations.
"One has to have been vaccinated against the virus and have had a break of six months since the completion of the initial jab," said Gichuki.
He was quick to add that vaccination for both the initial shots and the booster jab were open and free to all members of the public.
"The County has enough stock of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, the Johnson and Johnson and the booster vaccines and hopes to vaccinate over 1.2 million people," added the medic.
Those who have received the booster shot in the county are 1,490 and the health department targets more as the programme is rolled out to all public and private hospitals," he said.
He urged members of the public to continue observing Covid-19 containment measures, irrespective of the availability of the vaccines.
"We still urge the public to wear face masks, clean their hands with soap and water and keep social distancing in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic," he said.
Gichuki said the Omicron variant was still infecting thousands of people daily with Nakuru currently having 58 Covid-19 positive people on oxygen and another six being in the Intensive Care Unit.
"So far, Nakuru has cumulative infection rate of 15,640, 722 deaths, with a positivity rate of 4.6 per cent as at 4th January 2022 as per data from the Nakuru Covid-19 Situational Report (SITREP).
