Raila Odinga has claimed the tetanus vaccine administered by Health ministry causes sterility in women.
“This is targeting mass sterilisation programme and we demand the government to release names of those who participated in this and apologise to people over it,” Raila said.
The Opposition leader said the Catholic church was right in opposing the vaccine.
In 2014, the Catholic Church claimed some of the women who got the tetanus vaccine cannot carry a pregnancy unless process is reversed
“They have affirmed that most of girls between 14 and 49 years will not be able have children. The sterility can be reversed if the victims turn up for emergency intervention,” Raila told journalists on Monday.
He noted that the number of victims injected with the mass sterilisation disguised as tetanus vaccine was difficult to ascertain.
He said at least 500,000 women will never be able to give birth as a result of the vaccine.
“The vaccines were a great crime committed against women. Women should choose when to have children and how to space them,” he said.
It claimed the vaccination was a secret government plan to sterilise women and control population growth.
The church said the ministry is well-known for running big campaigns against polio and malaria and wondered why the tetanus campaign had not received similar treatment.
“We want to know if there is a tetanus crisis in Kenya, and, if so, why has it not been declared?” members said.
Some 1.6 million Kenyan mothers were vaccinated against tetanus in October, despite a spirited campaign by the Catholic Church.
Tetanus is among the most common, lethal consequences of unclean deliveries and umbilical cord care practices, and has a 100 per cent death rate if not treated.
Kenya is among the 28 countries in the world that have not eliminated tetanus since the WHO in 1989 called for its elimination by 1995.
