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{
    "id": 597475,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/597475/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 288,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the church sometimes misinterprets vaccination. Let me now address the clergy of Kenya. There are specific occasions when we do not allow a child or a pregnant mother to be vaccinated, for good reasons. Therefore, if in the process of a medical practitioner making a mistake and administering a vaccine, to those situations where we do not allow and then a member of the clergy witnesses or is informed of one such incident, they should not quickly conclude that vaccination is bad. Let me share with them that there are specific contraindications for vaccination. If a child receives the first dose, the results could be in a reaction. Most of those children react to the vaccine because of the protein component within the vaccine. So, if they are allergic to that protein component – just like a child would be allergic to eggs or fish – then it is a warning that a subsequent vaccine can actually kill the child. So, doctors are there and they then take pre-emptive measures to ensure that the contraindication is maintained. Secondly, because we live in difficult times, we now have a critical population of people whose immunity is poor or low. For example, it becomes very dangerous for children who are living with cancer of the blood called leukemia. It also becomes very dangerous for children who are living with HIV/AIDS. Again, these are the children that we do not allow vaccination. We do not disallow all the vaccination, but only the live vaccine. There are two types of vaccines – live and attenuated. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, let me conclude by addressing the governments of Africa. Many of the children who die in spite of having been given the above vaccines which I have spoken to; it is because their parents are poor. There are many other optional vaccines which are not available for free. They are only available at a fee of Kshs10 to Kshs25 a dose at Nairobi or Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital and so on. The rich can afford it. We urge all African governments to make all vaccines mandatory and the optional ones available. What do I mean? We have vaccines for illnesses like meningitis, but it is optional. If it was made mandatory and free, then the death threat to little children who die in the rural areas because of meningitis, can be cut by more than 75 per cent. Similarly, diarrhoeal and respiratory tract infections have many vaccines. All of you here and the middle class can afford. I urge them that those optional vaccines that are expensive are good; as soon as the child is born. When anticipating a birth, take an early cheap insurance that will take care of all those optional vaccines. Finally, a vaccine is also a very dangerous thing in this manner; it is supposed to observe a strict cold chain from the time it is produced in the laboratory, stored by the dealers, sold, taken to the hospital and the time that the child is vaccinated. The Government must ensure that all dispensaries have either power and a fridge or gas to power fridges. What then happens in the rural areas and sadly, is that mothers go for vaccination when there have been power outages such that the vaccines have already lost their potency. The mothers do not know this and nurses do not know what to tell the mothers and just hope that the vaccine has not lost its potency because of power outages. It is up to the Government to make sure that the cold chain is maintained. What is more is that we must have enough fridges. It is not a luxury. It is more important to buy a fridge, than an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed in a district hospital. When you give the hospital one fridge, the matron puts the vaccines and other medications used for other The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}