Catholic cleric slams Raila over tetanus vaccine
A medical officer administers tetanus vaccination jab to a pupil of Miritini World Bank Primary School, Mombasa, on May 16, 2016. The Health ministry said such medicine must first be approved. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Chairman Paul Kariuki said politicians should cease politicising health matters.
The Catholic Health Commission of Kenya has criticised Nasa leader Raila Odinga over a claim that the tetanus vaccine given to women of reproductive age was secretly laced with a hormone said to cause infertility.
Chairman Paul Kariuki said that although the church had moved on from the tetanus vaccine debate, politicians should cease politicising health matters.
“The Catholic Church and other religious bodies are now working with the Ministry of Health and we came up with the committee of experts.
"Whenever there is an issue of vaccination, the experts assure us that whatever our people are receiving is clean,” Rev Kariuki said.
Speaking during the official opening of the 2017 Annual Catholic Health Conference and general meeting at Pride Inn Hotel in Mombasa, Rev Kariuki and Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu said past happenings should not be revisited.
AGREEMENT
Dr Mailu said that since the 2014 vaccine debate, the government and different health stakeholders, including faith organisations, had reached an agreement to put in place a technical working group to ensure that all mass vaccination campaigns are subjected to tests.
“Those were the issues of 2014 where there was concern on immunisation.
"We later instituted the committee because we wanted everybody to feel comfortable with mass vaccination of our children,” the CS said.
SAFETY
He added that there was no point wasting time in revisiting the matter, a thing he insisted was ill-timed and unnecessary.
“We have had vaccinations and we have sat together with the faith organisations, sent the vaccines to the laboratory for analysis and got a clean bill of health,” Dr Mailu said, adding that the government would do all it can to protect its citizens.
