Catholic Doctors in Kenya Condemn Threats against Unvaccinated Government Workers

According to the Catholic medics, the ongoing war is a war against COVID-19 and “should not be distorted into a war between those who opt in or out of clinical trials.”

They assert that a personal health choice does not constitute an offence under Kenya’s code of conduct.

The members of KCDA have maintained that there are other medical options for dealing with COVID-19. They observe that instructing public servants to go for the COVID-19 injections is equivalent to forcefully recruiting public servants into clinical trials, which they say is against rules that govern “human experiments.” 

“It is unfortunate that public servants are being coerced to receive investigational vaccines when there are cheap, readily available and effective treatments that greatly reduces the risk of hospitalization, severe disease and death without attendant risks of the investigational vaccines side effects,” they say in a report obtained by ACI Africa.  

The medics further refer to Kenya’s Public Code of Conduct and Ethics of 2016, which they say does not grant non-medical heads in the public service competence to offer a medical opinion.

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The code of conduct, they say, prohibits all public officers and especially those in authority from discriminating against any person based on their vaccination status.

The law further prohibits those in authority from engaging in activities that amount to abuse of office, from bullying and from using privileged information such as health or vaccination status of public servants to further any private interest such as profiting vaccine manufacturers.

“In any case, part III of the code is very clear on the enforcement of the code of conduct and ethics,” they say. 

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has assured civil servants that they will not be coerced to receive the COVID-19 jab, adding that it is essential especially for the vulnerable.

“We are not going to force anybody. It will be your decision whether you want to take it or not. But I truly would encourage, especially those who are in that most vulnerable bracket, that it is essential that you be vaccinated,” President Kenyatta said.

In their Sunday, September 5 statement, Catholic doctors in Kenya appeal to be included in the fight against the coronavirus.

“It is critical that the doctors on the frontline are given an opportunity and support to contribute towards overcoming COVID-19. It is our belief that a strategy involving containment measures together with early treatment of COVID-19 using repurposed drugs such as Ivermectin and the Hydroxychloroquine/Zinc combination is the quickest and safest way to overcome the pandemic,” KCDA members say.

They add, “New Delhi as a state and India as a country have shown the way by adopting the use of Ivermectin at national level with brilliant results that speak for themselves. Clinical trials involving a small population of volunteers can remain ongoing.”

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.