A Seventh Day Adventist pastor has told off critics whom he accused of peddling rumours that the church is against Covid-19 vaccines.
Pastor Bering Ngore said his church was fully supporting the Covid-19 vaccination drive and claims to the contrary were malicious and satanic.
“Some of these people talk as if our church has officially declared war against Coronavirus jabs, yet the SDA leadership believes that the vaccines are safe and are the surest bet to protect the people from contracting the disease,” Ngore said.
Pastor Ngore, who is the president of the SDA church in Ranen Conference, Migori county, cautioned Kenyans against spreading irresponsible pronouncements, saying doing so could lead to unnecessary hatred against the church.
He was speaking in Migori town at a meeting to sensitise county stakeholders of Covid-19 vaccination exercise.
The clergyman said the church has always urged faithful to get vaccinated and embrace public safety protocols put in place by the Ministry of Health to fight the disease.
The forum brought together representatives of boda boda groups, chairmen of bunge la wananchi, university and college leaders as well as matatu and taxi operators.
“Our Church, from top to the grassroots, has always remained a key player in the campaigns to have as many people as possible take up the jabs and these messages have been spread among our followers and to the members of the public in general,” Ngore said.
Migori county chief officer for public health Pauline Amollo announced that the department was planning to vaccinate over 100,000 people in the next 10 days.
So far, only 90,363 people have been vaccinated across the county, a figure that Amollo termed very low compared to the region’s target of 557,657 by the end of the year.
“Through a partnership with the World Health Organization, we look forward to vaccinating over 10,000 people per day within the remaining days to fulfill our dream of realising the target,” Amollo said
She urged residents to disregard negative pronouncements so far made about the Covid vaccines and go for the jab. “There are enough doses of various vaccines,” she said.
WHO representative Alsen Oduwo said his organisation would continue to support the county in the mobilisation, training of health experts and distribution of the vaccines to ensure more people are vaccinated.
Edited by P.O