How Sonko’s health workers goofed in mass immunization – VIDEO
Nairobi county health workers on Tuesday disregarded basic occupational safety requirements and immunized contracted workers without gloves on.
In a live video shared by Governor Mike Sonko, the county nurses, who were injecting hundreds of casuals who have been hired to clean Nairobi River, could be seen administering the Hepatitis B vaccine without gloves.
The casual workers lined up and one by one the nurses would unwrap a syringe, draw the drug from the bottle, sterilize the upper arm section with cotton wool and inject then wipe off and move to the next person.
INFECTION RISKS
None of the nurses administering the vaccine had gloves on and none of the casual workers being injected were applied Elastoplast on the injected area to prevent infection or staining.
“Today, the Nairobi City County Government health department is injecting our workers taking part in the cleaning of Nairobi River, unclogging of Drainage Systems with Hepatitis B vaccine. The disease is most commonly spread by exposure to infected bodily fluids,” Sonko wrote in the Facebook post.
HUMAN BODIES
The clean up exercise has so far recovered several human bodies suspected to have been dumped into the river further polluting the environment and exposing those doing the clean up to infections.
Human waste and sewerage have been a common phenomenon in Nairobi River and with the vaccine the workers will be protected from infection.
The disregarding of occupational and safety requirements by the nurses is however risky in case any bodily fluids from the patient or the nurse come into contact.