Parents in Nairobi County have reported severe reactions exhibited by their infants who have received the new polio vaccine being administered by health workers in 12 counties.
Children have been reported to experience diarrhoea and vomiting that has pushed many parents to rush to hospital fearing the worst.
A parent who spoke to Citizen TV, Fay Ngina, reported that her child exhibited the alarming symptoms soon after the vaccine was issued.
Other concerned parents took to social media to share their experiences. Here is one post shared on the Facebook group Buyer Beware.
Director of Medical Services Dr Jackson Kioko, however, assured parents that despite the side effects being confirmed, they are only as a result of the vaccine.
Dr Kioko explained that the Ministry of Health (MoH) had chosen to use a "bivalent" (in pairs) form of the vaccine and not the usual "trivalent" (in triples) form they have administered in the past.
"Any new vaccine used will always have adverse effects and have a certain level of risks," he noted.
The switch to bivalent vaccines is part of a global shift that was recommended by the United Nation's World Health Organization (WHO)
The doctor further alerted parents that cause for worry would only be if any unexpected symptoms persisted for more than 10 days. At that point, he advised, the parents to seek immediate medical assistance.
The polio vaccination drive was launched by the Ministry of Health targetting 2,416,751 children aged five years and below in Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kiambu, Kitui, Machakos, Mandera, Meru, Nairobi, Tana River, Lamu and Wajir.
A second phase of the effort to "kick polio out of Kenya" will kick off in August.
[caption caption="President Uhuru Kenyatta interacts with women and their newborns after he launched the Accelerated Immunization Outreach campaign on June 27, 2018"]
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