Kenya's Tetanus Vaccination Program Alleged to be Masked Sterilization Campaign

Recent allegations made by the Kenyan Catholic church against the Kenyan Government have failed to gain much traction in the media. Yet, these allegations hold some level of credibility that should guarantee some more air time. In another episode of a historically acerbic relationship between both parties, the Kenyan Catholic Church is now accusing the Kenyan government of masking a Population Control Program as a mass Tetanus Vaccination effort. Given that over 82% of Kenyans identify as Christian, such a claim should have received much more national media attention; but it hasn’t, leading the Bishops to make allegations against the Government that it is somehow limiting local news coverage of this issue. In a recent effort to combat Tetanus in Kenya, which started in October of 2013, the Kenyan Government has launched a Tetanus Vaccination program that seeks to protect most of the population within the next few years. Curiously enough, at least from the vantage point of the Catholic Bishops in Kenya, over the past two years, this program has been orchestrated in a largely secretive manner. Especially so for a national effort that should be publicized to reach as much of the population as possible. Additionally, this program has mainly targeted Kenyan women from the ages of 14 to 49, the age range during which women are most fertile.

Given these perceived suspicious conditions, Catholic Kenyan Bishops, in addition to the Kenyan Catholic Doctor’s Association (KCDA) have requested samples of the vaccines to be tested for chemicals that could have contraceptive effects in women, specifically the HCG hormone, otherwise known as the pregnancy hormone. The organizations heading this vaccination effort, namely the WHO, UNICEF, and the Kenyan Government have been hesitant to provide the Bishops and the KCDA with these samples. Those they’ve acquired on their own have been sent as 6 different samples to independent laboratories both in Kenya and South Africa. According to their results, all six of these vaccination samples tested positive for an HCG antigen affirming their claim in this debate.

To understand how huge these allegations are, it is important to at least have a basic understanding of HCG, or the pregnancy hormone. After conception, women begin to register some levels of HCG in their systems. As the pregnancy progresses, these levels spike rapidly. This explains why one of the best ways to detect pregnancy early on is to perform tests that detect HCG levels; and one of the best methods of contraception used in several birth control pills, is to block the transmission of this hormone, rendering a woman essentially infertile. And in the unlikely event that a woman does become pregnant, miscarriages are also likely to occur. Hence, the claim that such an antigen is present within a widely administered vaccine is a very serious one. Since receiving these results which are backed by both local and foreign doctors, the Kenyan Catholic Church has warned people about the vaccine. There are, however, two sides to this debate.

The World Health Organization, a largely credible international actor, which acts independently of the Kenyan Government or any local government has performed it’s own studies on this issue, and is very aware of the bitter and untrusting relationship between the Kenyan National Government and the Kenyan Catholic Church. For this reason, the WHO has essentially been expecting some resistance on the part of the local Christian Groups. In fear of having its workers fall prey to verbal or even physical attacks, the advertisement of these vaccination clinics has been largely kept outside of the local religious circles. The focus on women from the ages of 14 to 49 is due to the fact that in Kenya, women are most like to get tetanus during childbirth, at which point both the mother and the child would be infected. Lastly, although there are HCG antigens present in the vaccines, the doctors who tested the samples likely did not use a control sample and so did not come to the conclusion that WHO doctors have already come to -- that the quantities of HCG present are not potent enough to have any significant contraceptive effects on fertile women. They also make the argument that these antigens are instead present to compliment the other key components of the Vaccines. The WHO has already done this research, refusing to cooperate with the KCDA and local Bishops because they intend to leave no room for bias that could be brought about by their affiliation with the KCDA.

Both cases hold valid arguments, and a real stance on this issue cannot be taken solely on the evidence given. Instead, we must have additional doctors perform their own research. Unfortunately, we must keep in mind that even doctors often possess their own religious and political agendas. So in the meantime, the likelihood that the World Health Organization is assisting the Kenyan Government in a supposed Mass Population Control Program is not particularly high. The country should carry on with its potentially life-saving vaccination efforts until substantial and overwhelming evidence is presented.