Kitui county has so far fully vaccinated 154,620 against Covid-19, out of the eligible population as of January 6.
The vaccination drive has been given a boost through the Africa CDC-Saving Lives and Livelihood Programme which has seen the uptake of vaccines in the county increase.
The Ministry of Health puts the estimated population eligible for vaccination in Kitui at 624,506.
At least 28,000 booster shots were administered in the county.
This is after Africa CDC engaged Amref Health Kenya to support in strengthening the capacity of existing vaccination centres as well as train and deploy the workforce needed to efficiently administer vaccines.
The programme has seen 86,555 vaccine doses of Covid-19 vaccines administered to eligible populations across the country and trained 57 health workers since its inception in August 2022.
“Since the start of the Africa CDC-Saving Lives and Livelihood Programme in August 2022, vaccine uptake has grown from 22 per cent to 24.8 per cent,” Henry Muinde said.
Muinde is the Kitui expanded programme on immunization officer.
The project saw Amref focus on the development of work plans for the vaccination drives, coordinate vaccination outreaches and train health workers to achieve vaccination coverage.
“To improve and increase vaccine uptake at community and county levels, we need to continue with more targeted outreaches to mobilized groups, especially the churches and other community functions,” Amref said.
Also the key areas of focus according to Amref include further engagements with religious leaders, and key opinion leaders to ensure more people are reached and the continuation of community dialogue meetings to educate and address the key myths and misconceptions.
