NAIROBI, NOVEMBER 21, 2014(CISA)-The Kenya National Union of Nurses has joined the campaign to stop the controversial tetanus vaccination until an independent body certifies its safety.
The union’s Secretary General Seth Panyako said that “the storm generated by the tetanus jab must be resolved.”
Panyako pointed out that an independent body is best suited to conduct the safety and not the government, in order to bring the matter to a halt.
“We are saying that the tetanus immunisation process should be stopped forthwith until tests are done with an independent body which is not part of the government so that we have an independent source as to whether we should continue with the whole process or not,” Panyako said as saying on Friday November 21.
He indicated that nurses will not be comfortable giving the vaccination at a time confusion is reigning over its suitability to mothers.
“So what we are saying is that the whole exercise should be halted until the controversy surrounding the issue is resolved since we do not want to be sued,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops catholic expressed concern that the vaccine targeting women of child-bearing age sponsored by the World Health Organization and UNICEF could be a birth control measure in disguise, a fact that the ministry of health refuted.
A joint team of the Catholic Church and the Health Ministry has since been set up to carry out a joint test on the safety of the controversial vaccine.
