Kenyan bishops call for no more tetanus vaccines until further tests

[_Abyssinia]

Kenya’s bishops have insisted that “no further mass tetanus vaccination campaigns” should take place in the country until the “vaccines have been appropriately tested and proven to be safe.”

The January 14 statement signed by all of the bishops followed a recent report that one-third of the vials of the tetanus vaccine tested contained a hormone linked to birth control. At the direction of the bishops, the vials were tested at five different laboratories in Kenya.

The government rejected the results, citing poor methodology. The Ministry of Health said it tested 10 vials and found them to be free of the hormone.

catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/01/19/kenyan-bishops-call-for-no-more-tetanus-vaccines-until-further-tests/

 

[MyNameIsDan]

I don’t have the chance at the moment to read the article, but we would have to check the methodology to see if it’s feasible that only 10 vials were tested.

When the Ministry of Health says it “tested 10 vials and found them to be free of the hormone” (assuming that is really what they said), I wonder if they mean every single vial was found to be free or whether the number of vials containing the hormone is statistically insignificant. Statisticians can have a different language sometimes. I think if all 10 did not have any hormone, that would indicate something. If a few of them were to have the hormone, considering the sample size is 10, it may be significant.

If there’s something I’ve learned from the statistics classes I have taken, it’s that we have to be careful when taking in statistics; a bad method means bad data.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

…

If there’s something I’ve learned from the statistics classes I have taken, it’s that we have to be careful when taking in statistics; a bad method means bad data.

Per Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

 

[J_Peterson]

Commonweal has an article up about this:

Kenyan Bishops Oppose Tetanus Vaccine for Women, Children

Further, MaterCare International, an international group of Catholic obstetricians and gynecologists, affirm that the results of all lab tests indicate only trace positives, nothing like the level needed to work even as a contraceptive. They note the nearly parallel baseless outcry in the 1990’s in the Philippines, Nicaragua, Mexico, Peru, and Tanzania. They note also that if there had been such massive sterilization programs in other nations, surely by now someone would have noticed. Vaccinated mothers in all those countries continued to have babies.

What will the Bishops accept as evidence that this isn’t about sterilization?

 

[Joe_Kelley]

The Matercare statement seems to differ from Commonweal’s summary.

…
Our concern and the subject of this discussion is the WHO/UNICEF sponsored tetanus immunization campaign launched last year in October ostensibly to eradicate neonatal tetanus. It is targeted at girls and women between the ages of 14 – 49 (child bearing age) and in 60 specific districts spread all around the country. The tetanus vaccine being used in this campaign has been imported into the country specifically for this purpose and bears a different batch number from the regular TT. So far, 3 doses have been given – the first in October 2013, the second in March 2014 and the third in October 2014. It is highly possible that there are two more doses to go.

Giving five doses of tetanus vaccination every 6 months is not usual or the recommended regime for tetanus vaccination. The only time tetanus vaccine has been given in five doses is when it is used as a carrier in fertility regulating vaccines laced with the pregnancy hormone - Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) developed by WHO in 1992.

When tetanus is laced with HCG and administered in five doses every 6 months, the woman develops antibodies against both the tetanus and the HCG in 2 – 3 years after the last injection. Once a mother develops antibodies against HCG, she rejects any pregnancy as soon as it starts growing in her womb thus causing repeated abortions and subsequent sterility.

WHO conducted massive vaccinations campaigns using the tetanus vaccine laced with HCG in Mexico in 1993 and Nicaragua and Philippines in 1994 ostensibly to eradicate neonatal tetanus. The campaign targeted women aged 14 – 49 years and each received a total of 5 injections.
…
Though the Bishops are medically lay people, they have technical advisory teams of competent specialists from every discipline, including medicine. These teams are both local and international as the Catholic Church is global. The Catholic based and run health institutions form the largest private health network in the country and have been rendering medical services to Kenyans for over 100 years! Thus, when the Bishops speak on topical issue like the tetanus vaccination, they are talking from a point of knowledge and authority. It would be foolhardy to disregard their advice.

This tends to confirm my doubts about Commonweal.

 

[I_trust]

The Matercare statement seems to differ from Commonweal’s summary.

This tends to confirm my doubts about Commonweal.

I completely agree. The Commonweal article confuses the mater by presenting statements that seem current, but actually refer to the situation** before** the vials were confirmed to be laced with HCG by joint testing by the government and the Catholic bishops.

 

[LeafByNiggle]

I completely agree. The Commonweal article confuses the mater by presenting statements that seem current, but actually refer to the situation** before** the vials were confirmed to be laced with HCG by joint testing by the government and the Catholic bishops.

Except that they never have been “confirmed” to be laced with HCG.

 

[LeafByNiggle]

The Matercare statement seems to differ from Commonweal’s summary.

Let’s look at the Matercare statement more carefully:

The tetanus vaccine being used in this campaign has been imported into the country specifically for this purpose and bears a different batch number from the regular TT.

Meaningless. Different batches could mean anything, such as inadequate quantities available in the other batch.

So far, 3 doses have been given – the first in October 2013, the second in March 2014 and the third in October 2014. It is highly possible that there are two more doses to go.

Giving five doses of tetanus vaccination every 6 months is not usual or the recommended regime for tetanus vaccination.

The dosing schedule can change depending on the situation of the recipients. The dosing schedule for those who grow up with good sanitation or are vaccinated as infants is not necessarily the same as the dosing schedule for high-risk women of childbearing age who have never been vaccinated and are likely to give birth in unsanitary conditions. One should not second-guess the dosing schedule unless one is a qualified immunologist.

The only time tetanus vaccine has been given in five doses is when it is used as a carrier in fertility regulating vaccines laced with the pregnancy hormone - Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) developed by WHO in 1992.

That’s because the vaccine given in the 1990’s was given for the same reason as now - to prevent neo-natal tetanus for those born in unsterile circumstances. It was not for regulating fertility then just as it is not for regulating fertility now.

When tetanus is laced with HCG and administered in five doses every 6 months, the woman develops antibodies against both the tetanus and the HCG in 2 – 3 years after the last injection. Once a mother develops antibodies against HCG, she rejects any pregnancy as soon as it starts growing in her womb thus causing repeated abortions and subsequent sterility.

This really sounds made up. 2-3 years delayed effect? Really? Where is the substantiation of this claim? It seems a convenient pre-planned excuse to explain why there are not already lots of unfertile women in Kenya. However common sense says, look back to the 1990’s when this exact same claim was being made of against WHO tetanus vaccine in the Phillipines, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Massive vaccinations were done. And where are the massive cases of unfertile women in the Phillipines, Mexico, and Nicaragua? You can bet if there was any shred of evidence of widespread fertility changes in these countries, the purveyors of this hoax would be citing it. But there isn’t, so they can’t. That should be a big red flag to anyone who wants to believe it.

WHO conducted massive vaccinations campaigns using the tetanus vaccine laced with HCG in Mexico in 1993 and Nicaragua and Philippines in 1994 ostensibly to eradicate neonatal tetanus.

Massive vaccinations is right. But the massive sterility never materialized.

Though the Bishops are medically lay people, they have technical advisory teams of competent specialists from every discipline, including medicine. These teams are both local and international as the Catholic Church is global. The Catholic based and run health institutions form the largest private health network in the country and have been rendering medical services to Kenyans for over 100 years! Thus, when the Bishops speak on topical issue like the tetanus vaccination, they are talking from a point of knowledge and authority. It would be foolhardy to disregard their advice.

In this case it is foolhardy to follow their advice. Because if their request is granted and vaccinations are stopped, more babies will die of tetanus. That is absolutely certain.

But it is incorrect to attribute this advice to the global Catholic Church. This advice is coming only from the Kenyan Bishops, acting on the bad advice of a group of Kenyan doctors led by one Dr. Muhame Ngare.

No, I don’t think the Matercare article is in the same class factually as the Commonweal article. The accusation just doesn’t make sense. Why are only the Kenyan doctors complaining? Doesn’t the WHO carry out similar vaccinations around the world? The same WHO that eradicated smallpox from the face of the Earth and is on the verge of doing the same for polio and has been in the forefront of the battle against Ebola. And where is the evidence in actual women (not some questionable lab test) that harm is being done? We have heard this cry of “wolf” before and the wolf never came.