Posted on :Thursday , 6th June 2024

With over 2,000 pieces of new, improved equipment being integrated and expanded into Kenya's enormous vaccine supply chain, there is growing hope that unreached children will have reliable access to inoculation.

Kenya's vaccination system has gotten an important upgrade, 2,061 pieces of new and enhanced cold chain equipment, worth $7.09 million (1.1 billion Kenyan shillings), will support preventive health care throughout the country's 47 counties.

An unbroken cold chain, represented by a network of fridges and cold boxes distributed over the entire earth, guarantees that vaccines transit from manufacturer to destination without ever falling below or rising beyond their critically narrow optimum temperature range. This allows the immunisations to remain effective, which saves lives.

At a March inauguration event in Nairobi, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Health, Susan Nakhumicha Wafula, praised the renovation, mentioning that the equipment was purchased using a Gavi cold chain equipment optimisation project (CCEOP) grant. "Investing in a high-quality cold chain system ensures that the vaccines that reach our communities and children are effective upon administration and our children continue to be protected from vaccine preventable diseases," she stated.

After installing the new kit at their individual health facilities, a cross-section of health personnel sounded a positive note.

Brigid Adhiambo, a nurse in Nairobi, stated that "the introduction of this equipment not only boosts confidence but also improves vaccination services for local people. We thus urge parents and carers to enrol all of their eligible children in immunisation programmes."