Tetanus jabs are safe, says health ministry

A war of words between the government and the Catholic Church over the tetanus vaccine continued Thursday, with the former insisting that it is safe.

But the church’s Health Commission urged Kenyans to shun the vaccination campaign that started on October 13, saying it would cause infertility.

“We have irrefutable proof that the tetanus vaccines contain Beta hCG. When injected into a non-pregnant woman combined with the tetanus antigen, she develops antibodies against both tetanus and hCG and is thus unable to sustain a pregnancy,” the Health Commission chairman, Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru, told a press conference at Waumini House in Westlands, Nairobi.

However, he and his Kenya Catholic Doctors Association colleagues, Bishop Joseph Mbatia and Dr Stephen Karanja, did not share the details of their research.

NO ADDITIVE

The bishops also said they disapproved of the campaign because there was little public information and education about it.

But Immunisation Technical Group head, Collins Tabu, dismissed the claims.

“There is no other additive in the vaccine other than the tetanus antigen, which helps a person produce antibodies against tetanus. It does not have hCG. We have used it for 30 years,” he said.

“Some women who were vaccinated in October 2013 and March this year are now expectant. Therefore, we strongly refute the claim that the vaccines are laced with contraceptives. We have vaccinated about a million people against our target of 2.3 million,” Dr Tabu said.

He challenged the church to publish its research findings and show the samples used and the labs where their research was done.

According to the Health ministry, one child dies from tetanus in Kenya every day.

Globally, one newborn dies every nine minutes from neonatal tetanus.