“In a bold move to restore public trust in vaccines and boost childhood immunization rates, Health Cabinet Secretary Hon. Aden Duale, EGH, officially launched Kenya’s Integrated Measles-Rubella and Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine campaign. Running from July 1 to 14, 2025, the nationwide effort targets children from 9 months to 14 years and seeks to reverse the growing burden of preventable diseases, which has been worsened by vaccine hesitancy in the wake of COVID-19 misinformation.”
The news is relevant because immunizations prevent infectious diseases and promote the health and well-being of individuals and the public. Health and life are fundamental goods for a meaningful and fulfilling life. Parents play a vital role in making decisions about their children’s upbringing regarding health, education, faith, and morality.
Vaccines, Ethics, and the Catholic Church Perspective
The Catholic Church advocates for parental role in child upbringing which implicitly implies consenting to health matters such as immunizations. (CCC 2223). Acknowledging a parental role shows respect for the person’s dignity. Parents are aware of the moral impermissibility of vaccines derived from cell lines of aborted foetuses. This church teaching demands parents’ notification, information about the vaccine, availability of alternative treatment, and finally parental consent or refusal.
Churches and schools remain outreach grounds for mass vaccinations. Despite the Cabinet’s call to parents, caregivers, teachers, and religious leaders to support the nationwide vaccination drive, some parents have come out to oppose vaccinations without their consent. Children under 18 in Kenya need parental or legal guardian consent. Therefore, involving the parents (or guardians) is indispensable before vaccinating the children. In schools, parents sign a document to give teachers the go-ahead to vaccinate their children. Parents and guardians also have the right to refuse consent. During emergencies (or pandemics) like COVID-19, consent could have been implied, waived, or forced, which raised significant ethical dilemmas.
There are cases where parents pursue legal action against the teachers and sponsors of schools (Church) for allowing vaccination without proper parental consent. It is important to note that vaccinations undergo trials for safety, toxicity, efficacy, and dosage before being rolled out. When vaccines are administered without proper informed consent procedures, doubts arise about the safety and intention of the said vaccines.
The Case of Trizah Atieno: Consent vs. Compliance
The story of Trizah Atieno was shared by Hellen Shikanda, Nation Media Group’s Science and Health Reporter, on Saturday, July 5, 2025. Atieno declined to sign the consent form as a parent for her child to be vaccinated in school. However, she went ahead and vaccinated the child in a hospital. Her fears were about the adverse events reported in the past, who to hold accountable in case of any harm, and the lack of details on the consent form. This shows the doubts and mistrust that still surround inoculation.
Enough information should be shared about the vaccine’s benefits, side effects, risks and alternative interventions, if available. This allows parents to make informed decisions. There may be a need for interpreters or the use of local languages to enhance understanding. Social media has become an expert in information, whether rumors, fake, or genuine. This remains a paradox, as many people trust such information more than the evidence-based findings on the vaccines.
Another Case: A Sunday Vaccination Without Consent
Another Kenyan parent, Cathrine M. Njore from Mweiga, Nyeri County, filed a complaint in the public domain. The main issue is about the unauthorized vaccination of a minor without parental consent. On July 6, 2025, her children were given the jab inside a Catholic Church compound without her permission. The health professionals from Mweiga Health Centre administered the vaccine on a Sunday, probably targeting the presence of many children. Although the government’s directives for vaccinations are towards safeguarding the public, individual health, and the children’s best interests, there was a breach of non-consensual medical procedures. Since these were routine vaccines, no emergency necessitated violating the parents’ rights to make decisions for their children through formal consent. The (Kenyan) Data Protection Act, 2019 requires that parental consent be sought before processing it. The said parent demanded immediate investigation, disciplinary action, a formal apology, policy review and training, compensation for psychological harm & legal costs, and assurance of compliance to avoid similar recurrence in the future.
The Church’s Position on Vaccine Origins
The Church advocates for respecting the right to life, without which other rights cannot be enjoyed or exercised. We must take care of our health and that of others, especially the most vulnerable. Thus, we must consider the harm that can come from not vaccinating children or adults. The Church has in the past been opposed to the production of vaccines using tissue derived from aborted foetuses. In emergency and pandemic situations like COVID-19, it was stated by the Pontifical Academy for Life that “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted foetuses in their research and production process.” This is because passive material cooperation is remote from the vaccine users. In this case, the Church distinguished between the unethical origin of vaccines and the use of historical cell lines derived from them. The note on the Italian issue also “reiterated that treatment with vaccines, despite the infrequent side effects (the events that occur most commonly are mild and due to an immune response to the vaccine itself), is safe and effective.”