(This is a rebuttal of an article which appeared on DN2 authored by Dr. Osur)
Allow us to respond to an article by one Dr Osur titled “Ignore the church, get the tetanus vaccine†that was featured on page 15 of the Sunday Nation DN2 magazine of October 25th 2014.
Tetanus is an incurable disease that infects the body through broken skin or wounds. The umbilical cord stamp of newborn babies is a possible entry point and makes them especially susceptible. It is best prevented through immunization with the tetanus toxioid (TT) vaccine.
We would like to assure the public that the normal vaccines available in both public and faith based organization in this country are clean. Generally speaking, the faith based medical facilities give the same if not more vaccinations than public institutions.
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.
Unlike other mass vaccination exercise, this particular WHO/UNICEF organized and sponsored tetanus vaccination campaign was launched at the New Stanley Hotel in Nairobi which is extremely unusual for a public campaign. For this reason, many people, including health professional did not know about the campaign until the matter was addressed by the Catholic Bishops. It may also have led to the confusion that the Bishops were commenting on the clean TT vaccine – which is not the case.
Normally in Kenya, TT vaccination is given as follows:
(i) Immunize all children (both boys and girls) against tetanus with the first 3 primary vaccinations in early childhood.
(ii) Pregnant women get two doses of tetanus vaccine at least one month apart.
(iii) A booster can be given every three to five years.
(iv) After any injury with resultant broken skin.
Giving three or five doses of tetanus vaccination at six months intervals is not usual and will definitely not eradicate neonatal tetanus!
Tetanus vaccination resembling the protocol being applied in this WHO/UNICEF campaign has previously been given in Mexico, Nicaragua and the Philippines. The vaccine given in these countries was a fertility regulating vaccine composed of tetanus toxoid as a carrier for the beta subunit of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG). Subsequent research amongst those girls and women immunized has been shown to have made them permanently infertile.
This is the fear that must be clarified in this country and be prevented using all the scientific armaments available to us.
The development of the fertility regulating vaccines was commissioned and sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1972. By 1992, a vaccine against the hormone of pregnancy called Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) using the tetanus vaccine as a carrier had been developed.
HCG is a hormone produced by the placental tissue of pregnancy. In fact, it is the hormone we use to test for pregnancy in both blood and urine. Since HCG is natural to the body, the body would in normal circumstances not develop antibodies against it, however, if a part of the hormone is attached to the tetanus vaccine, the body develops antibodies against both the tetanus and the HCG! For the fertility regulating vaccine to have full effect, the mother has to receive 5 injections spread 6 months apart and the full effect is noted 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 an abortion. Pregnancy would in turn boost her immunity against HCG making the rejection of the next pregnancy even more vigorous and in this way cause sterility in the woman.
Though some participants in the WHO technical working group meeting of 1992 that discussed the vaccine indicated the vaccine needed further tests to determine its safety, and to avoid its abuse as a mass sterilization tool, WHO went ahead and conducted the massive vaccinations campaigns using the new 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.
What is even worse, downright immoral and evil is that the tetanus laced with HCG was given as a fertility regulating vaccine without disclosing its ‘contraceptive effect’ to the girls and the mothers. As far as they were concerned, they had gone for an innocent injection to prevent neonatal tetanus!
In 1995, the vaccine was brought to Kenya and the Catholic Bishops raise the red flag. Unlike this time round, the then Minster of Health listened to the Bishops and insisted that the vaccine should be tested before the campaign. WHO opted to withdraw the vaccine instead of allowing it to be testing for HCG.
To the best of our knowledge, it was not until last year October when WHO returned to the country with the tetanus campaign. Like the campaign in South America mentioned above, the target population is girls and women between the ages of 14 – 49 years, it is being given every six months and the justification of the campaign is eradicated neonatal tetanus!
It is with the above background knowledge of WHO underhand activities that the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association brought the matter to the attention of the Bishops and sort their intervention in seeking audience with the Ministry of Health with only one request; that the tetanus vaccine being used in this campaign be tested to ensure it was not laced with HCG before the 2nd round of immunizations in March. The Ministry of Health declined to have the vaccine tested and the Bishops had no choice but to release their statement requesting Kenyans to avoid the vaccination until tests are conducted to determine its safety.
With the help of Catholic faithful’s who put their own lives at risk, the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association managed to access the tetanus vaccine used during the WHO/UNICEF immunization campaign in March 2014 and subjected them to testing. The unfortunate truth is that the vaccine was laced with HCG just like the one used in the South American cases! Further, none of the girls and women given the vaccination were informed of its contraceptive effect.
This proved right our worst fears; that this WHO/UNICEF campaign is not about eradicating neonatal tetanus but is a well-coordinated, forceful, population control, mass sterilization exercise using a proven fertility regulating vaccine.
When word went round that there was a third round of immunization that was to be conducted in August 2014, the Catholic Bishops again went to the Cabinet Secretary requesting for suspension of the exercises and this time presented to him evidence of the laboratory reports. For the second time they were ignored.
When challenged in South America in the early 1990’s about the tetanus vaccine used in their camping being laced with HCG, WHO brushed off the claims as unfounded and asked for proof. When proof was provided by the Catholic based bodies in those countries, WHO claimed that the other components of the vaccine production process may have caused false positive results. When pushed further, they accepted that a few vaccines may have been contaminated with HCG during the production process. However, HCG is not a component nor is it used in the production of any vaccine let alone tetanus! It was only after antibodies against HCG were demonstrated in the women who were immunized with the laced tetanus vaccine that the matter was sealed. The immunized women have suffered multiple abortions and some have remained sterile. Do we have to wait until this point before action is taken?
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.
The responsibility to protect Kenyans lays equally in the hand of each one of us and our elected government. The Catholic Bishops and the Kenya Catholic
Doctors Association have performed their moral and civic duty of speaking the truth and alerting the government and the people of Kenya. It is now up to each individual Kenyan to make an informed choice.
As for Dr Osur’s chama members, kindly Google “Fertility regulating vaccines†and “Are New Vaccines Laced with Birth-Control Drugs?â€For further insight.
Yours faithfully,
For: Kenya Catholic Doctors Association.
Dr Wahome Ngare
Obstetrician/Gynecologist.