The Ministry of Health (MoH) together with the World Health Organisation (WHO) have cautioned Prophet Elvis Mbonye to stop his social media propaganda against the soon to be launched Measles-Rubella immunisation campaign.
Zoe Ministries’ Mbonye used his official Facebook account to bash the campaign alleging that the vaccines to be used will cause Autism in children.
In his first post on October 11, Mbonye said; “First to note!!! Am neither pro or anti-vaccine. Am for informed consent. What that means is providing all necessary information to the person going to be vaccinated for them to make an autonomous and rational independent decision. On 16th Oct, the Ministry of Health is going to vaccinate your child in school and those not in school from measles, mar-burg& rubella (MMR) Vaccine. On a global scale, Some vaccines have been known to cause Autism, a very impaired brain condition.
I admonish the Ugandans to research about vaccines before consenting to vaccination. And I ask this government to provide necessary information through their media vaccination campaigns. Please out these side effects of vaccines your child is going to be injected. Be informed.”
He added “In April 2019 government launched a campaign to vaccinate all girls starting from the age of 10 years onwards, I hear “against” cervical cancer. Is it that a priority considering the health issues we have in this country? Anyway, that is a topic of discussion for some other day. More than 200 girls were hospitalised after receiving shots of a vaccine sought to prevent cervical cancer, called Gardasil. But as it is a trend in the political circles.”
However on Tuesday, both MoH and WHO refuted Mbonye’s allegations and branded them ‘false, unfounded and baseless.’
“The Ministry of Health has noted with concern about information circulating on social media platforms by a one Mugisha Elvis Mbonye alleging that the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine is dangerous to the health of children but this is false. Contrary to the allegations on social media, the Measles-Rubella vaccine does not cause Autism. Some people have had concerns that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) might be linked to vaccines children receive but several studies have shown that there is NOT link between receiving vaccines and developing ASD,” reads the document in part.
In another of Mbonye’s posts, he asks parents if they know the ingredients in the vaccines their children are receiving.
“So many children regressed after receiving this vaccine. Have you looked at the ingredients and researched them? Do you know what’s being injected into your children you take in to get vaccinated? It’s purely evil to inject these ingredients into any living being, especially in a young developing child,” the question posted on October 10, reads.
However, according to MoH, there is one ingredient called thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used to prevent contamination of multi-dose vials of vaccines and research shows that thimerosal does not cause ASD.
Over 18 million children below 15 are set to be immunised against Measles and Rubella. Of these 8.2 million children aged below nine months, will receive the Oral Polio Vaccine.
The campaign commences on Wednesday, October 16 to Sunday, October 20 in various primary and secondary schools for the first three days before moving to communities for the last two days.
At the same time, the campaign will be the launch pad to introduce the Measles-Rubella vaccines into the routine immunisation schedule of the country.
Minister of Health Dr Ruth Aceng has advised the general public to disregard Mbonye’s false information spreading on social media and bring their children for vaccination.
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