Because it’s easier and cheaper to vaccinate EVERY SINGLE FEMALE between the ages of 14 and 49 than it is to instruct the midwives to dip the scissors in bleach (they even have that in Kenya these days!) prior to cutting the cord.
20 years ago a good friend of mine stepped on a rusty nail during her 8th month of pregnancy. She rushed to her OB for a tetanus shot and was told absolutely not, tetanus toxoid exposure was detrimental to the fetus. They cleaned the wound very carefully and thoroughly and mom and baby somehow managed to survive the perilous experience...
And they are vaccinating every woman, not just the pregnant ones.
And this pressing medical issue (neonatal tetanus) is far more important to fix than say, clean drinking water or adequate disposal of human waste. I’m sure neonatal tetanus kills FAR more women and children than dirty unclean drinking water...
I'm sure that was a huge coincidence..