The health and lives of newborn babies in Kenya are under threat due to a shortage of vaccines.

Several thousand babies born on Monday will not be receiving an oral polio vaccine and two other vital boosters as the shortage of these drags for a second month, despite Nairobi’s preparation for a four-day polio vaccination campaign targeting 2.6-million children, the East African reported.

Public hospitals have run low on supplies of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and tetanus toxoid vaccines.

The shortage has enabled private hospitals, however, to make lucrative profits as parents left with little choice lay out big bucks, ranging from $80 to $200, to have their children vaccinated.

Scientists from Kenya’s Medical Research Institute (Kemri) found live polio viruses in sewage samples from Eastleigh estate, Nairobi at the beginning of April.