County governments have been urged to set aside funds to immunise children.
Immunisations in some areas have declined and they will be targeted in Bungoma.
Many mothers are afraid to take their children to health facilities for vaccinations for fear of Covid-19. Donor funding has also declined.
The call for county immunisation funds was made by Beatrice Awino, the Western regional coordinator for the Kenya Aids NGOs Consortium.
She said that mothers should not be charged when they take their children to hospital for immunisation.
She was speaking at a workshop for journalists on the state of immunisation in Bungoma county at a hotel. She said the media can disseminate information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines to increase uptake.
Awino said all eligible children should get the requisite vaccines on schedule as outlined by Gavi, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, being implemented in Bungoma.
Before the Covid-19 outbreak, teachers had been assigned registers to ensure children do not miss out on vaccinations.
The pandemic has led to school closure since March. Most children are home and many mothers in the county have stopped attending immunisation sessions
"Community Health workers are also lean on the ground to monitor and ensure the immunisation programme succeeds," Peritah Barasa, the county Health Promotion officer, said.
She said the programmes are mostly donor driven and said vaccinations should be covered in county budgets to avoid over dependence on declining donor funds.
The programme targets children between the ages of one and five years in Bumula, Webuye East and Tongaren subcounties. Numbers there have declined because mothers are afraid to take their children to hospitals for fear of contracting Covid-19.
Barasa said Covid safety precautions are in place and mothers should not be afraid to go to hospitals and health facilities.
“Children should be taken to health facilities for immunisation despite the pandemic as this disease will still be with us," she said.
"We are also dealing with HIV, TB and malaria and feedback on immunisation performance within Bungoma county is very low," the health officer said.
The Kenya Aids NGOs Consortium is a membership organisation established in the early 1990s and operating in East Africa.
Members include NGOs, CBOs, faith-based organisations and learning institutions that focus on health programmes and advocacy.
It supports health empowerment programmes in 16 counties and immunisation advocacy in 17 counties
(Edited by V. Graham)
