Ministry says vaccine is safe, recommends disciplinary action against bishop
Claims that a tetanus vaccine administered on women can cause sterility has been dismissed after the Ministry of Health said lab results had proved the claims wrong.
The Catholic Church has been adamant that the vaccine contained traces of hCG antibodies which make women incapable of sustaining pregnancy. The clergy has been warning women against getting tetanus jabs claiming they had proof that the vaccine is a population control tool. The vaccination campaign is spearheaded by the government and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“We ordered two lab tests and the results came in yesterday showing no traces of hCG in the tetanus vaccines,” said Nicholas Muraguri, the Director of Medical Services when he appeared before National Assembly Committee on Health.
Mr Muraguri recommended that disciplinary action be taken against Bishop Stephen Karanja of the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association whom he blamed for raising false alarm against the vaccine.
Seme MP, James Nyikal queried why the Ministry had not shared the lab results with the public given the gravity of the issue and the lives it affects.
The church has insisted that they commissioned laboratory tests on samples of the vaccines and determined that they were risky. However, Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru, the Catholic Health Commission chairman, alongside his colleagues Bishop Joseph Mbatia and Dr Stephen Karanja of the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association, have been at pains to explain details of this research.
They have noted that it takes several years before the hCG causes miscarriages.