Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
The tense standoff between Catholic bishops and the Kenyan government over tetanus vaccines
By Abby Ohlheiser
November 14 at 12:02 PM
The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Kenyan Health Ministry are locked in a heated battle over the safety of a tetanus vaccine that's being administered to women in the country. Although the government, UNICEF and the World Health Organization have all said that the vaccine is safe, the country's Catholic leaders say they have proof that the doses given to Kenyan women since March are "laced" with a fertility-inhibiting hormone.
That accusation, which was made in a public statement last week, carried the signature of about two dozen Kenyan Catholic leaders, including Cardinal John Njue, the archbishop of Nairobi. The controversy has since been taken up by the Kenyan parliament.
The accusations are the latest to target a long-running vaccination program, sponsored by WHO and UNICEF, which inoculates women of reproductive age against tetanus. Despite several controversies over the past few decades, there's no definitive proof that the current or previous tetanus inoculation campaigns have produced mass sterilizations in inoculated women as charged.
But the bishops' conference believes it finally has that proof and has come out swinging against the government-run program with a litany of accusations and charges about science and secrecy. "We shall not waver in calling upon all Kenyans to avoid the tetanus vaccination campaign laced with Beta-HCG, because we are convinced that it is indeed a disguised population control programme," the bishops said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/11/14/the-tense-standoff-between-catholic-bishops-and-the-kenyan-government-over-tetanus-vaccines/
What is the claim, that the vaccines are unsafe or that they are contraceptive?
If it's the former, the opinion of the Health Ministry trumps the opinion of the bishops.
If it's the latter, why are they throwing up a smokescreen about it being unsafe?
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 1545 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (2)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The tense standoff between Catholic bishops and the Kenyan government over tetanus vaccines (Original Post)
rug
Nov 2014
OP
goldent
(1,582 posts)1. I have heard the claim that the vaccines contained a contraceptive
I'm skeptical - but if true it would be beyond belief
rug
(82,333 posts)2. Wel, they're not very precise in what the consider to be a contraceptive.
There are many things that may incidentally have a contraceptive effect, but that's not the purpose.
Have they forgotten about the principle of double effect?
http://sites.saintmarys.edu/~incandel/doubleeffect.html