Bungoma County has joined the rest of the country in the launch of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine aiming to reduce cervical cancer cases in women. The launch took place at the Bungoma referral hospital pediatric sector ground on Tuesday, where several primary school pupils, health workers and health officers from all sub-counties in Bungoma, the first lady Bungoma County Caroline Wangamati and Bungoma woman representative Catherine Wambilianga were in attendance.
The vaccine is to be administered to ten year old girls from all over the County focusing on 10,000 schools.
The first lady who was launching the vaccine advised the children on the vaccine and how it will help protect them from cancer which is a killer disease. She thanked the government for bringing the vaccine to help protect the coming generation and also lamented cases of early teenage pregnancies in Bungoma, urging parents to take responsibility so as to reduce those cases.
Catherine Wambilianga advised the administrators of the vaccine to move to schools using school registers to make sure that each and every 10 year old girl has been vaccinated. She urged the teachers and parents to work together in this step to make sure that the all the children have been vaccinated.
The health County director Dr.Akutu Johnson assured Kenyans that the vaccine is safe and has been tested and so they shouldn’t fear but allow their children to be vaccinated.
Written by Cynthia Chemtai