Ministry says 4,100 girls received HPV jab
About 4,100 girls have received the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) jab, a month after it was officially rolled out in the country with support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
This, according to the Ministry of Health, is a good indication that parents are willing to take their children for immunisation despite concern raised by religious leaders. Speaking at the sideline of the ongoing International Conference on Population and Development Gavi Deputy chief executive officer Anuradha Gupta said with such uptake they are now hopeful they will hit their target of about 800,000 girls.
Surpass number
“For the first three months, we were targeting to immunise around 10,000 girls and we believe we will surpass this number especially now that the schools are closed and parents are willing to take their girls to get the vaccine,” she said.
Gupta said their visit to Machakos Level Five hospital where they found tens of girls queuing to get the vaccine was a clear indication that parents and guardians have embraced the immunisation.
“We will build on our experience to use behaviour change communication approaches to define a model for reducing gender barriers to immunisation that can ultimately be scaled up to change the lives of adolescent girls,” she said.
