Health officers in Machakos county who are conducting a vaccination activity against measles and tetanus in children between the age of 9 months and 14 years on Wednesday said that opposition of the church is the main challenge they are facing in implementing this aim.
Led by a senior doctor in Machakos county Dr Jack Ndaka, the health officers say that several church leaders are discouraging parents from presenting their children for the vaccination claiming that it's not fit for the children's health.
"It is a danger not to present children between the age of 9 months and 14 years for the vaccination because it can expose them to measles or tetanus in their lifetime," explained Dr Ndaka during the opening of the vaccination in Machakos Township academy.
Ndaka said that the health officers have already vaccinated 193,364 children in the last two days and are aiming at 477,151 children by the end of the process.
Father Jerad Matolo, the dean in Yatta deanery and the senior priest in Vava Parish in Masinga sub-county is one of the clergy against the vaccination.
Speaking to the local journalists, Father Matolo said that the Catholic Church is and will continue discouraging its congregation against presenting their children for vaccination because it might put their children health at risk.
"We are not assured that the vaccine is safe to be administered to our children and we cannot just experiment with human beings health," said the priest.