Migori Journalists have undergone a training on information dissemination on the importance, expectations and role of Covid-19 vaccination uptake.
Speaking during a workshop that was supported by the Kenya Red Cross at one of the hotels in Migori town, Migori County Health Promotion Officer, Mr. James Oguk, said that journalists should always enlighten the public about the progress of Covid-19 vaccination uptake.
Oguk said that usage of local media channels will help the public to be informed about the advantages of getting the Covid-19 jab.
He acknowledged that disseminating information about Covid-19 vaccination will help the public to shun the negative perception and myths about Covid-19 vaccine.
“We want journalists to take-up the advantage of being vaccinated to instill confidence in the general public about the importance of taking the jab, ” said Oguk.
The Health Official said that increasing jab intake in the County will guarantee a good immune system among the residents in case they contracted Covid-19.
According to Oguk, Migori Covid-19 caseload as of October 2021 stood at 1,985 from a sample of 24,000.
The Official said that male were the most affected with Covid caseloads of 1,204 while women Covid caseload stood at 780. The Migori case fertility rate (CFR) was at 4 per cent with 78 deaths so far.
Oguk noted that out of the 1985 positive cases since the outbreak of Covid, 97.3 per cent were local transmission while 2.7 per cent was imported outside the County.
He pointed out that youths between the ages of 21-31 years were the most affected group with a 25.4 percentage of the total Covid-19 caseloads.
Oguk said that Suna East Sub-county had the highest number of Covid-19 positive cases due to the referral cases from other Sub-counties.
The Health Official acknowledged that Isebania trans-border crossing along Kenya-Tanzania border was some of the risk factors that may lead to more spread of Covid-19.
He urged Migori journalists to help the Ministry of Health and Migori County Government to propagate the importance of being vaccinated.
Migori County Kenya Red Cross Coordinator, Mr. Kevin Ochieng, said that the Society will engage the local media to ensure that people are well informed on the advantages of taking the jab to increase Migori vaccine uptake.
Ochieng said that Red Cross will support the local media to ensure they host talk shows through opinion leaders as an information tool to propagate the need and importance of Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
By Geoffrey Makokha
