Catholic Bishops feel shortchanged by government on polio vaccine campaign
Kioko Kivandi Birth Control,
Bishop,
Bishops,
Cardinal,
Catholic church,
John Njue,
Polio,
Tetanus 0 Comment 31/07/2015
Catholic Bishops in the country want the Ministry of Health (MoH) to postpone the forthcoming polio vaccination campaign “until we can assure Kenyans of their safety.” The campaign that is to set to start on August 1 targets children aged 5 and below. In statement dated July 28 the Bishops say the vaccines to be used have not tested jointly according to an agreement the Bishops say they arrived at with the government. The statement which is signed by all the 27 Bishops of the church including Cardinal John Njue falls short of accusing the government of not honoring its promise on the joint testing of the vaccines. This is not the first time that the Bishops who lead one of the biggest church in the country and are clashing with the government on the safety of vaccines. A while back the Bishops who also form one of the most influential group of opinion leaders in Kenya were opposed to a tetanus vaccination campaign on women saying the vaccines were an
indirect birth control method, an argument that was later
confirmed. Polio is a highly
infectious viral disease which causes paralysis. It has no cure and can only be prevented through vaccination. Owing to the fact that the Bishops were proven right when they opposed the tetanus vaccine, their stand against the polio vaccine is bound to affect the effectiveness of the forthcoming campaign should Kenyans head their call. Besides their call comes at the wake of reports that more than twenty
children in Teso have been paralyzed after allegedly being administered with unsafe injections, a case which they cite in their statement. Below is the full statement:
PRESS STATEMENT BY THE KENYA CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS ON THE SCHEDULED POLIO SUPPLEMENTARY IMMUNIZATION ACTIVITIES
The truth will set us free: The safety of Kenyans must be assured...
...
We have waited for joint sampling of the polio vaccines since April 2015 with no success. We have similarly waited for the manufacturer’s declaratory information with no success yet millions of these doses are already in Kenya. We are not in conflict with the MoH but we have an Apostolic and moral duty to ensure that Kenyans are getting safe vaccines. What is so wrong or bad about the questions and recommendations by KCCB? Recently, we experienced 30 children being paralyzed after receiving injections of what is highly suspected to have had a problem....
