Kenyan government, Church to jointly test vaccine thought to sterilize young women
November 19, 2014
The Kenyan government has agreed to involve Catholic health-care officials in new tests of a tetanus vaccine that the Kenyan bishops have charged is being used to sterilize women without their knowledge.
Cardinal John Njue of Nairobi accepted an offer from the government’s health ministry to joint tests of the vaccine. The cardinal and the health ministry also agreed to hold a joint news conference to announce the results of the tests.
In October, officials of Kenya’s health-care system announced that in several tests of the vaccine used in a government-sponsored campaign against tetanus, they had found a chemical agent that would work to sterilize women of child-bearing age. Government officials have said that the researchers who tested the vaccine for the Church misinterpreted the results.
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Further information:
- State, church agree to joint testing of controversial tetanus vaccine (Nation)
- Church misinterpreted test results: Doctor (Nation)
- Kenyan government promises probe into vaccination campaign that included sterilization (CWN, 11/11)
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