Church faults State over lack of cooperation on vaccine testing

Pupils being immunised against measles rubella at Melon Mission School in Nakuru on May 16, 2016. Church leaders have complained that the Government did not involve them when polio and tetanus vaccines were being tested if they are healthy for human consumption. PHOTO | SULEIMAN MBATIAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By ELIZABETH MERAB

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IN SUMMARY

  • Bishop Anyolo claimed that despite the joint committee being formed to oversee the process, the ministry went ahead to conduct the tests alone.

  • A source at Agriq Quest Ltd privy to the matter said that all they wanted was for the ministry to pay their dues and not cause a stir over the vaccines.The Catholic Church on Friday claimed the government went ahead to administer the polio and tetanus vaccines even before the controversy surrounding its tests was resolved.

    Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) Philip Anyolo revealed the joint committee of experts from both the Ministry of Health and the church, which oversaw the joint testing of the vaccines, never agreed on the final results presented to them.

    “The test was to be carried together after the team picked out the laboratories. However, we were kept in the dark,” Bishop Anyolo said.

He claimed that despite the joint committee being formed to oversee the process, the ministry went ahead to conduct the tests alone and “only ambushed us with the results”.

This revelation comes a day after the Nation brought to fore contents of a demand letter by Gitobu Imanyara Advocates in which a Nairobi laboratory threatened to sue the government for failing to pay Sh13.8 million for tests on the two controversial vaccines.

The company, Agriq Quest Ltd, claimed that the government declined to pay for the laboratory tests because it wanted the results altered to show that the vaccines were fit to be administered to women and children.