The World
Health Organization is working with the government of Kenya to provide the
country with a huge supply of polio vaccines to inoculate the nation’s
children. Less children getting sick is an awesome thing, but there
appears to be a hurdle: the Catholic Church is urging the citizenry to boycott the
vaccines:
Roman Catholic
bishops in Kenya have urged citizens to boycott a mass polio vaccination
campaign, unless the safety of the vaccine has been confirmed through
scientific tests.
The oral
vaccination campaign, by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, is scheduled
to begin in Kenya on Aug. 1.
You know
who’s in the habit of testing vaccines to make sure they’re safe? The
World Health Organization. It turns out that, unlike the Catholic Church,
doing that kind of thing is their job and expertise. We should probably
leave it to them.
Ahead of
the campaign’s launch, the bishops questioned the safety of the vaccines,
saying the manufacturer failed to provide requested information and the
government disregarded the bishops’ request for tests.
Yeah,
probably because the government doesn’t answer to you. The government
probably realizes that the WHO, not the Catholic Church, is the authority on
medicine. I mean seriously, this is probably what your government is
hearing: “Hey, so we know you’ve got a vaccine ready that’s been approved
by the relevant experts, and we know it’s your job to increase the quality of
life for your citizens and all that, but our group of religious non-experts
think the World Health Organization doesn’t have it quite right and we’d like
you to delay this vaccine which will augment the quality of life of your
citizens by deferring to us, rather than to them. Sound good?”
Oh no,
it doesn’t sound good. What did you expect?
The
government is trying to use reason to appeal to the Catholic Church…you can
guess how well that’s going:
“Any
attempts aimed at mobilizing the public against taking their children for
vaccination is a serious violation of the right of children to health and
survival,” said Dr. Nicholas Muraguri, director of Kenya’s Medical Services, in
the statement.
“The
ministry of health once again reassures the public of the safety of all
vaccines used in Kenya,” he said. “I therefore appeal to all stakeholders,
especially the leadership of the Catholic Church, to continue supporting” the
immunization campaign in Kenya.
But don’t
worry, Kenya’s government: even though the Catholic Church is trying to
undermine your humanitarian efforts, rest assured they’re not fighting you:
“We are
not in conflict with the Ministry of Health, but we have an apostolic and moral
duty to ensure Kenyans are getting safe vaccines,” Bishop Philip Anyolo, the
Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops chair, told journalists at a news
conference in Nairobi.
Yeah,
because the organization that launched a huge campaign to AIDS-riddled Africa
to convince people that condoms actually increased the spread of AIDS
(see: the Catholic Church) is now asserting it knows better than the WHO.
Thank goodness. That was close.
Early
this year, the bishops had tangled with government after the clerics claimed a
mass neonatal tetanus vaccination campaign was a disguised form of population
control. The government and the bishops later agreed to test all vaccines
before, during and after the campaign, according to the bishops.
It’s like
with a toddler: if you don’t put your foot down they’ll push you every time.
“We are
not fighting anybody, but we are saying let us determine our destiny. The
moment things (vaccines) are formulated from outside and there are problems, it
is our people who suffer. That’s why we are voicing this issue,” said Cardinal
John Njue, the bishop of Nairobi.
You
actually are fighting. That’s literally the definition of what you’re
doing. And yes, it would suck if the citizens of Kenya suffer.
That’s the whole point. They are suffering…from polio. The
means to mitigate that are available. The suffering is about to be
diminished. The only thing standing in the way…is you, all while
promising us you’re the ones stopping the suffering.
Jesus
Christ, the Catholic Church is not a medical authority. The medical
authority has spoken. Kenya, can you please just ignore these people?
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