Catholic Church questions ongoing tetanus vaccination targeting women aged between 14-49 years

[_Abyssinia]

Nairobi, Kenya: The Catholic church in Kenya has raised questions over the ongoing national tetanus vaccination campaign targeting women aged between 14-49 years.

The church claims the initiative covering 60 districts has had limited public awareness unlike other national health initiatives that are preceded by a public launch where the public can ask questions.

In a statement sent to newsrooms by Catholic Health Commission of Kenya Wednesday evening, the church further alleges that there has been no adequate stakeholder engagement for consultation both in the preparation and implementation of the campaign.

standardmedia.co.ke/health/article/2000107916/catholic-church-questions-tetanus-vaccine-targeting-women

 

[_Abyssinia]

Check out this video:

citizennews.co.ke/news/2012/local/item/18145-tetanus-vaccine-controversy

Statement by Kenyan Bishops:

kccb.or.ke/home/com/statements-com/press-statement-by-the-catholic-health-commission-of-kenya-kenya-conference-of-catholic-bishops-on-the-ongoing-national-tetanus-vaccination-campaign-in-60-districts-in-kenya

 

[BigBlueCane]

Oh god it had to be a church in Nairobi. People that need tetanus vaccinations the most. The irresponsibility of scaring people into not getting vaccinated is just mind boggling.

 

[nhamm10]

I think they are completely right and need to further investigate before they start shooting up all these girls and women. Red flag there, why is it girls and women being targeted?
I think it is irresponsible to SCARE people into getting vaccines. Some vaccines are needed, some absolutely not!

 

[odhiambo]

Oh god it had to be a church in Nairobi. People that need tetanus vaccinations the most. The irresponsibility of scaring people into not getting vaccinated is just mind boggling.

I agree!
I live in Nairobi and it is true that I was not aware that this was happening. I see no reason though , for the Church to be all worked up. Tetanus in newborn babies has a near 100% mortality rate and the best way to protect against it is to immunize women in the childbearing age. It appears that this is what is happening. The WHO certainly recommends it.

 

[EIF5A]

If indeed their suspicions are correct, it is a truly scary thought — covertly blocking successful pregnancies (not sure if before or after conception) under the guise of disease protection.

 

[Coatimundi]

Here is a followup news story, written after the Kenyan Minister of Health met with representatives of Cardinal Njue:

*“The cardinal was not opposed per se but wanted a clarification on why it was taking place. We have since met with his representatives and the issue has been resolved,” Mr Macharia noted.

The vaccination started last Friday and ends today. Sixty high-risk districts were targeted in Kilifi, Mombasa, Meru, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Trans Nzoia, Baringo, Uasin Gishu, West Pokot, Turkana, Samburu, Kajiado and Narok counties.

Mr Macharia said the vaccination aimed at reach 2,098,605 women aged between 14 to 49 years, in the high-risk districts.

The campaign is part of a World Health Organisation aim at eliminating neonatal tetanus, a lethal disease associated with unclean deliveries.*
nation.co.ke/news/-Njue-not-against-tetanus-vaccine/-/1056/2259028/-/4ayxoy/-/index.html

 

[MJJean]

I think they are completely right and need to further investigate before they start shooting up all these girls and women. Red flag there, why is it girls and women being targeted?
I think it is irresponsible to SCARE people into getting vaccines. Some vaccines are needed, some absolutely not!

Girls and women are being targeted because there are about 110,000 deaths from tetanus in that country annually. Girls and women of childbearing age are specifically targeted in an effort to save the lives of unborn babies. Apparently, pregnant women dying of tetanus isn’t uncommon. Also, there is some evidence that pregnant women receiving the vaccine pass immunity on to their child. And are more likely to have said child vaccinated when the time comes.

The questions are being raised for political reasons. This same group also posed the same questions when the polio vaccine was introduced. Both the polio vaccination program and now the tetanus vaccination program are Kenyan government health initiatives and are being criticized by those that are not fans of the current administration.

 

[DaveBj]

Here is a followup news story, written after the Kenyan Minister of Health met with representatives of Cardinal Njue:

snip

Thanks for finding and posting the clarification. I, for one, found the original story a little odd.

 

[Cricket2]

I think they are completely right and need to further investigate before they start shooting up all these girls and women. Red flag there, why is it girls and women being targeted?
I think it is irresponsible to SCARE people into getting vaccines. Some vaccines are needed, some absolutely not!

Tetanus vaccines are needed. Is everyone sure they are talking about tetanus vaccines? I have to wonder, since they are focusing on women and girls if this is about the HPV vaccine. If it is then I don’t think any woman or girl should be getting this one…they are proving to be too dangerous. Just wondering what this is really about.

 

[FrenzyJen]

Isn’t that happening here too? Woman urged to vaccinate themselves against whooping cough, which is included in the Dtap vaccine that covers diptheria and tetanus as well.

I don’t see what the issue is. I was in the ER a few years ago and 90% of the other people there were children and infants with whooping cough. So it makes sense for the vaccine to be encouraged. Maybe (very likely, I think) it’s the same case there with tetanus.

 

[juno24]

Tetanus vaccines are needed. Is everyone sure they are talking about tetanus vaccines? I have to wonder, since they are focusing on women and girls if this is about the HPV vaccine. If it is then I don’t think any woman or girl should be getting this one…they are proving to be too dangerous. Just wondering what this is really about.

No, it’s not about the HPV vaccine. Apparently, part of the concern was that the tetanus vaccine might have been laced with an additive that would purposely and permanently render the female recipients infertile (as was done in 3 other countries). I think the bishop was right in questioning.
From the original article:
“Information in the public domain indicates that Tetanus Toxoid vaccine (TT) laced with Beta human chorionic gonadotropin (b-HCG) sub unit has been used in Philippines, Nicaragua and Mexico to vaccinate women against future pregnancy. Beta HCG sub unit is a hormone necessary for pregnancy’’, read part of the statement.

 

[bioethics1985]

The tetanus vaccination campaign probably ought to target women and children. In unsanitary conditions, tetanus can be a fatal outcome following delivery. Not to mention, neonatal tetanus continues to be of vast concern. Where is the respect and concern for these women and children who face the risk of a horrible disease?

 

[TCEL]

No one is saying they don’t care about the people’s health. All they are raising is the concern that in the past, fertility drugs have been tested in shady ways on people in less-developed countries. That’s bothersome too.

 

[J_Peterson]

No one is saying they don’t care about the people’s health. All they are raising is the concern that in the past, fertility drugs have been tested in shady ways on people in less-developed countries. That’s bothersome too.

Is there a source for this?

 

[TCEL]

Is there a source for this?

I would reference the links previous posters have provided.

EDIT: apologies–I was browsing and thought previous posters had posted links about that specific item in question. Give me time, and I will get back.

 

[DAML72]

Is there a source for this?

I’m sure there is plenty of information about it out on the ‘interwebs’. Might have to dig a bit, though, because that kind of news doesn’t make the front page. But our government as well as Non-governmental Organizations around the world have been sterilizing women in the Third World against their will for 50 (or more) years now. It was right of the Bishops to raise concern. Hopefully their concerns were unwarranted in this case.

 

[TCEL]

Israel admits forcibly injecting Ethiopian Jews with Depo-Provera
“According to a Haaretz report, women in transit camps in Ethiopia waiting to emigrate to Israel were either told the birth control injection was mandatory, or that the injection was simply for immunization.”

Who’s Behind India’s Barbaric Mega Sterilization Camps?
"Although India denies having targets for sterilizations, quotas are, in fact, set by local health administrators and are well publicized, she added. In 2011, for example, officials in the district of Rajasthan determined to sterilize 1% of the population. To meet this target, they offered mobile phones to men undergoing vasectomies and lottery tickets for cars, motorcycles and refrigerators to anyone who agreed to be sterilized.

While paying people for sterilization is against the law in the U.S. and other countries—and has been widely denounced in India—most Indian states are still in the business of bribing people to give up their fertility. The amounts offered range from 150 rupees (about $2.70 US) to about 600 rupees (about $11 US). So-called Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA workers) or “motivators” are also paid a bonus for every person from their district that they bring to a sterilization camp."

Justice Denied in Peru’s Sterilization Campaign
“Elected to a second presidential term in mid-1995, Fujimori, with the encouragement of the Clinton State Department and the U.N. Population Fund, ordered his Ministry of Health to focus its efforts on sterilizing women by tubal ligations. He set national targets for the number of sterilizations—100,000 in 1997 alone—and demanded weekly progress reports. These targets and quotas alone are prima facie evidence of serious problems, since they were banned by the 1994 Cairo population conference on the grounds that they always lead to abuses.”

African women fight back against forced, coerced sterilizations
“The fight-back has started over international and national groups pushing sterilization on African women. A project in western Kenya was blasted by human rights groups last year when it was discovered they were offering HIV-positive women cash for sterilizations. Project Prevention, a US-based NGO, was offering US $40 to be fitted with IUDs, which can prevent pregnancy for over a decade.”

UN Goals May Play Part in Uzbekistan’s Forced Sterilizations
“The government of Uzbekistan is accused of running a clandestine program to forcibly sterilize women, possibly as a way to meet U.N. goals on maternal mortality. The BBC World Service reports this disturbing trend of compulsory sterilizations and mandatory quotas for doctors.”

Refugees Subject to Population Control
"Bangladesh has hosted refugees from Myanmar’s ongoing ethnic cleansing of non-Burmese for 20 years, and is apparently growing weary of the task. On September 18, the standing committee on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh recommended birth control for Rohingya mothers and cutting off food rations for any refugee children after the first two. As a member of the Bangladesh parliament, Ms Nilufer Zafar Ullah, put it: “One of the problems is their outnumbering the locals and so, birth control measures have been recommended.”

In the US’ past, people labeled as feeble-minded or criminal were sometimes tricked into sterilization. My source for this is a book by Edwin Black called War Against the Weak, which is an enlightening read about the history of the eugenics movement. While certainly rejecting eugenicism, I got the feeling he still supports the work of Planned Parenthood. I recommend getting it from the library.

The pill’s development included testing on poor women in Puerto Rico, but I’ve heard it said that testing on the poor was common procedure back in the day for any drug development.

Oral Contraceptive Pill
“But the liberation from messy, old-fashioned methods came at a cost. Scientists tested the drug on Third World women. The large doses of hormones in the Pill’s early form caused serious side effects. Physicians had to prescribe the Pill, making it unavailable to women without the resources to visit a doctor or clinic. Feminists attacked the method as harmful and exploitive. The Roman Catholic Church opposed the Pill as unnatural.”

For further research, I recommend C-FAM.

 

[J_Peterson]

In the US’ past, people labeled as feeble-minded or criminal were sometimes tricked into sterilization. My source for this is a book by Edwin Black called War Against the Weak, which is an enlightening read about the history of the eugenics movement. While certainly rejecting eugenicism, I got the feeling he still supports the work of Planned Parenthood. I recommend getting it from the library.

The pill’s development included testing on poor women in Puerto Rico, but I’ve heard it said that testing on the poor was common procedure back in the day for any drug development.

For further research, I recommend C-FAM.

Thank you, that’s quite a bit haha. It’s something I’m interested in but am always skeptical so I’d like to read up a bit.

Even if these are just rumors, the Bishop has a duty to question it. Hopefully it can be resolved quickly though as the vaccinations are important.

 

[TCEL]

Thank you, that’s quite a bit haha. It’s something I’m interested in but am always skeptical so I’d like to read up a bit.

Even if these are just rumors, the Bishop has a duty to question it. Hopefully it can be resolved quickly though as the vaccinations are important.

I tend to skepticism too, so I don’t blame you! There’s more, but it does require digging. I am not against vaccinations.