Catholic Church in Kenya rebuffs opposition to vaccine

The Catholic Church in Kenya has voiced its support for the Covid-19 vaccine after the country received more than a million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

The church also dismissed an advisory issued by a group of Catholic doctors in the country, who had termed Covid-19 vaccinations as unnecessary.

“Pope Francis is the head of the Church, and has spoken very clearly regarding the vaccine. The vaccines are licit to receive… they need to go through the normal tests of any vaccines and the ministry of health is supposed to do that,” said Catholic Archbishop Anthony Muheria, who heads an interfaith council on Kenya’s response to the virus.

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The Catholic Church in Kenya in 2019 rejected the vaccination of girls against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), and in 2014 opposed a tetanus vaccination campaign, BBC News reports.