Perceptions of Catholic Church On Tetanus Vaccine to Women in Kenya.

Abstract

Government of Kenya has been focusing on a mass tetanus vaccination campaign for past years. This targeted woman between 14 and 49 years with an aim of protecting babies from neonatal tetanus, a case of pregnant mothers. Before the March and October 2014 mass tetanus vaccination campaign, the Catholic Church raised concerns about the safety of the vaccine that was being used. Therefore, this study was about the perceptions of Catholic Church on tetanus vaccine to women in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to analyze the reasons as to why Catholic Church in Kenya reject tetanus vaccine, determine the impacts associated with tetanus vaccination to women and society at large, determine bodies and institutions that support and contribute to the vaccination program and finally to access the Kenyan government response concerning the views brought by the Catholic Church on tetanus vaccination to women. Most of data was collected from secondary source. The findings showed the main reason for Catholic Church rejecting the vaccination is because it was a population control scheme by the government, the vaccine was also viewed as important since it prevents neonatal tetanus in newborns, the main bodies and institutions that supported the programme included the WHO, UNICEF and Ministry of health. Finally, the government responded to this issue by forming a joint committee of experts to jointly test the vaccines. More public awareness was needed and should be done in case there is a such programme in future; key stakeholders from religious groups, private and public sectors need to be incorporated in decision making process and the government could have used a different provider for vaccines until the investigation got resolved.