NAIROBI, JANUARY 16, 2015(CISA) – The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) has insisted that no further mass tetanus vaccination campaigns be done in Kenya until vaccines are proven safe.
In a press statement signed by His Eminence John Cardinal Njue dated January 14, 2015, the bishops said some of the vials used in March and October 2014 were laced with birth control substance Beta HCG.
“We insist that no further mass tetanus vaccination campaigns should be undertaken in Kenya before the vaccines have been appropriately tested and proven to be safe,” said the statement in part.
This comes in the wake of a recent declaration by a joint committee of experts from the Catholic Church and the Ministry of Health that the vaccine was safe.
The bishops however noted that “only the Catholic Church had collected samples during the actual March and October 2014 tetanus vaccination campaigns”.
The bishops noted that of the nine vials presented by the Catholic Church to the joint committee three tested positive for the birth control substance.
“Nine vials from the Catholic Church were tested by the joint KCCB/MOH committee of experts using the most modern and sophisticated method called High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).Three of the nine vials tested were found to be laced with beta HCG,” read the statement in part.
The bishops noted that ten vials presented by the Ministry of Health from its vaccine stores were found to be free of beta HCG.
The results were completed by the testing laboratory on January 4, 2015.
“On 5th and 6th January 2015, the testing laboratory persistently called the joint KCCB/MOH committee of experts wanting to present the results but the Ministry of Health showed great resistance to receiving these results,” added the statement.
The bishops noted that the process was “aimed at creating a dilution and bias of the three vials that were positive out of nine.”
“It was only on 8th January 2015 after the KCCB chairman threatened to withdraw from the joint committee that the Ministry of Health requested for an extra day. On the same day, the Ministry of Health submitted 40 vials to the laboratory from their vaccine stores for testing, without consulting or seeking the approval of the joint KCCB/MOH committee. The results of these 40 vials were loaded onto the previously completed results of 19 vials from the joint committee,” added the bishops.
