Lodwar- July 5, 2025 (Public Communication and Media Relations)
The Deputy Governor, Dr John Erus has just flagged off vehicles transporting Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccines and Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) to all the 11 Sub-Counties in Turkana.
This was during the launch of the 10-day vaccination campaign starting from today and ending on July 14th, 2025. The campaign targets 177,108 children aged between nine and 59 months for MR, and 544,764 children aged between nine months and 14 years for TCV.
This is part of a nationwide integrated immunisation campaign purposed to curb the spread of drug-resistant typhoid and contain rising measles-rubella outbreaks reported across several counties.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Erus stated, “Measles and Typhoid diseases are highly infectious diseases. Measles is a leading cause of vaccine preventable pediatric deaths in children under 5 years old. Typhoid disease affects children under 15 years contributing to high morbidity, high treatment costs and school absenteeism,”
He added that the unprecedented increase in the number of unvaccinated children has resulted in multiple outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases including Measles.
“Turkana county has reported measles outbreaks in 3 sub counties, Aroo, Loima & Lokiriama. These occurrences point to the existence of immunity gaps among the population,” DG explained.
According to Dr Epem Joseph Esekon, County Executive Committee Member for Health and Sanitation, the County has been facing several disease outbreaks including Cholera, Malaria, Cholera, and Measles.
“Such outbreaks are in most cases first reported in insecure areas. We are appealing to the national government and security agencies to heighten security in such locations to allow healthcare workers to reach the unreachable populations and safeguard our vulnerable children in these areas,” stated Dr Epem.
According to Deputy County Commissioner Thomas Siele, the country’s national interest is to safeguard the population, therefore, their role in administration and security is to ensure every child has been protected.
“We are going to work with the County Government to ensure every single child has been vaccinated. This includes all children on transit to other areas through Turkana will benefit,” said DCC Siele.
The DCC also called on healthcare workers to enlighten the population about the dangers of open defecation to reduce the spread of such dangerous diseases such as Typhoid.
According to Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Health services, Measles and Typhoid are both dangerous but also preventable diseases.
“Through these vaccines, the County Government will now be able to reach every child. Our duty as parents, teachers, healthcare workers, and religious leaders is to ensure our children have been vaccinated and safeguarding the lives of children” said CCO Tioko.
Dr Gilchrist Lokoel, Chief Officer for Medical Services called on the members of the public to bring their children for vaccination and keep them safe from potential harm and even death in serious cases.
“In Turkana, children under the age of 15 continue to bear the greatest disease burden, with those under five years facing the highest risk of dying from preventable illnesses,” highlighted Dr Lokoel.
According to the Acting Director of Preventive and Promotive Health services Luca Edete, these vaccines are important for the protection of the children.
“Over the last two weeks, our county and sub-county healthcare workers have been trained and brought up-to speed on how to effectively conduct this vaccination exercise, leaving no child behind,” Edete said.
The vaccines will be administered as injection across the county in all health facilities, schools, churches and other religious institutions, and temporal outreach and mobile posts.
The Deputy Governor in his closing remarks called on togetherness towards safeguarding the children’s future stating, “As we launch this campaign today, let us take this opportunity to bring all residents together towards eliminating these diseases and safeguarding our children’s health,”
At least 50 children were vaccinated during the launch at Lodwar County Referral Hospital.
The launch brought together national and county health management teams, members of the public, and partners in the health sector including World Health Organization, Kenya Red Cross Society, UNICEF, International Rescue Committee, World Vision Kenya, World Relief, community-based organizations among others.
