Elgeyo Marakwet County Acting Director of Health Dr Patrick Kosgey has called on residents to ensure they are vaccinated against Covid-19 saying the level of Covid-19 deaths and infections have been rising in the county.
Kosgey said the county has been recording 10 cases in a day with 21 deaths being reported so far saying two deaths have been reported in less than two weeks.
Addressing a media workshop on Covid-19 at an Iten hotel, the medic added that with the spread of the delta virus which he said had spread in the community, patients were now dying without showing any symptoms and therefore the importance of vaccination.
He said while vaccination does not prevent one from contracting the disease, it protects one from a severe attack.
The director said the county had seen a rise in the number of those being vaccinated which he attributed to the directive by the head of civil service to have all civil servants vaccinated.
“So far a total of 14,902 which is 3% of the total population have received the first dose while 5,405 have completed their second dose,” he said.
He said the number was still low saying soon the county will roll out the vaccination exercise to the lowest level with health personnel taking the vaccine to residents from door to door.
He said apart from AstraZeneca, the county will also receive Pfizer and Moderna but said people will not be allowed to choose which vaccine to receive.
“All the vaccines are effective and therefore one will receive whichever vaccine the medical personnel will be having,” he said.
The workshop was sponsored by SNV which is running a project for Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) where they are providing sanitation facilities to schools and institutions.
According to the Project Coordinator Joan Chemitoi, they have already started constructing toilets for targeted schools in the county.
Chemitoi said the organisation is calling on all Kenyans to become Covid-19 heroes by observing the Ministry of Health protocol of washing hands, wearing masks and social distancing to stop the spread of Covid-19.
By Alice Wanjiru
