Baiklash in Kenya on livestock vaccines and cheeky cows

An ambitious initiative to vaccinate all livestock in Kenya is due to kicking for this week which is amid fierce resistance from farmers who are being inspired by misleading claims about vaccines.

Farmers will have nothing to vaccinate their animals as the government says it is stopping the bill.

But Robert Nukuu, who holds cattle in the Mai Mahu area of ​​Nakuru County -some 50 km (30 miles) north -western in the north -west of the capital Nairobi, explained how it became a toxic issue because President William Ruto had become a toxic issue The plan was announced last November.

“If the community here comes to know that you are a supporter, they will kill you now. So stop talking about it, we don’t want it,” they told the BBC.

The government aims to vaccinate at least 22 million cattle and 50 million goats and sheep in three years.

Currently only 10% of the national herds get the necessary vaccination and officials say they want to increase that rate to 85% to make Kenya’s livestock products eligible for export.

The President, who owns a farm and has many big flocks himself, has said that vaccines are important to expand the area by controlling legs and mouth disease in cattle. plague.

But some of those who oppose the program believe that Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates is funding it, fueling it, People are sharing videos of interview Talking about vaccinating cows to control methane emissions.

Methane was expelled by livestock bellching and farting, contributing about 15% of global emissions every year, the United Nations estimates. It is the most common greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2).

Jonathan MuK, a senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kenya, has denied that Gates is involved in the livestock vaccination program – saying that neither US billionaire and philanthropist nor other foreign sources have provided funds.

But it has not discontinued the principles of conspiracy being broadcast on social media, often by high-profile personalities.

Kaleb Karuga, a former journalist and now an influential farmer, Posted on X That he would oppose Jabs, saying that no one would vaccinate his livestock “because Bill Gates said so”.

Ledma Olekina, an opposition senator and leading Masai Rustic, Xe: “There are millions of cows in Europe and America and any of them are being vaccinated for farting … I will not be vaccinated.”

Gates has first invested in projects to reduce methane emissions from cattle and Looking at a US-based company to develop a vaccineAs other American investors.

But in the US, Professor Armys Cabreb, a Professor at the University of California, Davis, who has researched how to reduce methane emissions from livestock, BBC said that there was currently no livestock vaccine to reduce methane emissions.

“I want us to have one, but it is still in development – and no one has reached the test (test) in animals yet,” he said.

However, such assurances have greatly reduced misconceptions about the objectives of the vaccine campaign.

The mistrust is being pushed by some opposition politicians, who said that vaccines will change the genetic makeup of livestock, possibly as a result of defective animals.

“Ruto is advancing a terrible foreign agenda. The scheme is careless and should be stopped,” an opposition leader Kalonzo Musyo said, not a long time after the announcement of the initiative.

When the BBC asked Mosyoka about specific claims that vaccines could be harmful to cattle, their spokesperson said the vaccination campaign was “violation of the Constitution”.

He said that it was “immersed in privacy” and the government had not shared the details about resources, implementation or technical details about vaccines.

According to Professor Armys, livestock vaccines will genetically replace animals.

The academic told the BBC, “It is similar to those who vaccinated to fight against various diseases. There is no report that it causes deformity or replaces DNA.”

President Ruto has dismissed the views of those who opposed vaccination as “simply misguided, inappropriate and possibly stupid”.

“All of us who have been vaccinated, have anyone stopped farting?” Ruto said that when he rejected the Methane claims as “nonsense”.

Nevertheless, analysts say that the principles of such conspiracy are a series of anti-tax protests and corruption scams last year along with poor communication by Ruto as well as poor communication by Ruto.

Since Ruto became President in 2022, the government has faced a huge backlash over tax growth – it has become very unpopular. This was in last June Forced to withdraw a controversial finance bill This included more tax growth.

Alphons Shindu, editor of Kenya of Fact-Czech Organization Africaq, says the government was now facing the “lack of trust”, the way it had communicated the livestock campaign.

When ruto First announced itThe details were scary – and it was not clear that the animals would be vaccinated.

This occurs when there are a clear spike in the mentions of both gates and cows with accounts listed as Kenya on the X on the X on X.

The nuisance increased in a case of national debate, Cartoonists also captioned “My Fart, My Choice” for the rights of cows on social media.

The Kenya Veterinary Association (KVA) has called upon the government to stop vaccination exercises and conduct a public awareness campaign first.

KVA President Dr. Calvin Osor told the BBC, “The politicization of vaccination exercises has adversely affected the entire campaign, thus distracting the public from the goal of controlling diseases.”

But the Director of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Alan Azgel said that it could not be delayed due to the recent outbreaks of legs and mouths in western regions.

It has forced several livestock markets to close this month – and authorities have taken strict quarrel measures at those places.

“We can’t wait … because it is more expensive to respond to the outbreak. We have to be active instead of reactive,” Dr. Azegel told the BBC.

He said that there was no specific treatment for the leg-and-mouth, which led to the prevention through vaccination.

Agriculture Minister Mutahi Kagway has demanded to assure everyone that the exercise will be voluntary and has promised to attach all stakeholders around the issue to “misinformation”.

The government is also assuring the public that vaccines are being produced locally.

But some farmers are still vowing to oppose the vaccination campaign citing the government’s potential foreign influence and mistrust.

David Tiriki, a livestock farmer in Kaziado County, south of Nairobi, told the BBC that he would not allow his animals to vaccinate, citing safety fears.

He said, “I suspect that someone is trying to present a virus to our livestock so that rich can start selling treatment to poor farmers, who may not even tolerate it,” he said.

The BBC spoke to a small scale farmer from Makuni County in the south-east of Nairobi, who welcomed the initiative.

But NGEMU Musau urged the government to make the entire process more transparent.

“I want my cattle to be fine after the vaccine,” he told the BBC.

“The government needs to run a deep public awareness campaign.”