The Machakil vaccine and the accompanying cruelty

By Zeleke WA

Recently, I read a paper written in Amarigna concerning an unethical and illegal sterilization practice performed in the name of infection prevention among the native people of Machakil in Gojjam, Ethiopia. This paper has been circulating to individuals in various electronic communication media. According to the writer of the paper, the sterilization procedure involved the administration some kind of unidentified tablets to men and the injection of tetanus vaccine to women aged 18 t0 49 years. Both “medicines” were described to be donated by an American NGO.

The tablets were given to the men under the cover of preventing trachoma. Shortly after taking these tablets, the men were reported to suffer from severe fever, gastrointestinal disturbances, hemorrhoids, and impotency. Some men who could not stand these toxic effects were reported to die. None of the women was given any such medicine for the claimed trachoma prevention.

In the name of tetanus prevention, the women within the age group indicated were injected “tetanus vaccine” every month, whether they were at a risk of contracting the infection or not. Most of these women were reported to experience sicknesses of various types, miscarriages, sterilization and even death. Neither males nor females outside the above age range were given any vaccine for tetanus prevention, although there was no scientific justification for not doing that if the program conducted was truthful as communicated to the local people involved.

From the information provided in the paper, it is not possible to know the nature of the tablets given to the men unless one gets hold of them or makes analysis of specimen obtained from the men who have taken them. However, since” tetanus vaccine” was mentioned to have been given to the women, comments can be made on this aspect of the deceptive scheme carried out in Machakil.

Under normal circumstances, a tetanus toxoid vaccine is given to a person to prevent the effect of tetanus (bacteria) infection, which usually occurs through an open wound. The incidence of infection with tetanus is higher in areas with poor sanitary conditions, particularly in farming communities. Once antibody to the tetanus bacteria is formed in the body in response to the administered vaccine, it stays effective at least for ten years. During this time, a person can be protected from tetanus infection. However, since the times of vaccination, and hence the duration of antibody protection, are not usually recalled correctly by most people, the vaccine is given to suspected victims of infection more often than is needed in order to avoid the risk of infection consequences. To minimize inconsistence and possible risks of adverse consequences, there is a standard care practice in many places for giving tetanus toxoid vaccine. Within a reasonable time limitation and dose, the administration of the right kind of vaccine does not cause any major harmful effects. As such, tetanus vaccines are recommended for infants, children, teens and adults of both sexes to prevent tetanus. Authorities also support that it is okay to receive the tetanus vaccine during pregnancy when the need arises. Normally, in all these situations the side effects produced by the vaccine are mild and quite tolerable by most people.

From the above discussion, it seems that the tetanus vaccine given to the women in Machakil was different from the standard vaccine used for tetanus prevention: (1) it was sex and age selective and (2) it was administered far more frequently, with no regard to the duration of action of the antibody formed and to the possibility of over-dosage toxicity by the vaccine. In addition, the medical history of the female patients described clearly suggests that there is something more to it.

Reviewing published materials on related topics reveals similar incidences in different parts of the world with the use of vaccine preparation given under the cover of preventing tetanus. These places included some regions of Mexico, China, Philippines, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, Thailand and Yemen. As with the observed toxic consequences, the vaccine preparations, the selections of persons for “vaccination” and the frequencies of injections were more or less similar in all these places and Machakil. Since the goal of this unusual vaccination was to induce sterilization in women (during their reproductive ages) in the other places identified, this should be the reason for its implementation in Machakil too.

How does a vaccine supposed to work against tetanus infection ends up working as a tool to sterilize women? Here is a possible explanation.

Under proper conditions, following sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, the egg of the woman gets fertilized and the processes of pregnancy kick off. Until the time of delivery, pregnancy is maintained by complex mechanisms, involving the actions of various types of endogenous chemicals known as hormones. One of the crucial hormones involved in maintenance of pregnancy is the human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG). HCG works indirectly by stimulating the release of other hormones which can, more directly, enable the uterus to maintain pregnancy. If the formation/release or function of HCG is impaired for any reason pregnancy cannot be maintained as it occurs naturally. Previous investigations have shown that the tetanus toxoid preparation that has been implicated in sterilization contains HCG conjugated to the toxoid molecule. After administration of this preparation, anti-HCG antibodies are produced in the body, which are capable of neutralizing the effect of the naturally occurring HCG. HCG then becomes ineffective to maintain pregnancy thus leading to miscarriage or sterility. Therefore, when a woman has sufficient anti-HCG antibodies in her system due to the administration of multiple doses of HCG-coupled tetanus toxoid, she is rendered incapable of maintaining a pregnancy. Along with this, the very high doses of the counterfeited tetanus toxoid administered cause a number of other toxic effects, some of which are describe above as reported by the victims of the Machakil scheme.

To the knowledge of this writer, the Machakil sterilization scheme is the first of its kind in Ethiopia. As noted above, since similar experiences have been encountered by people in other countries, a lesson can be learnt from those experiences. Among the actions taken in favor of the victims of such harmful vaccines were refusal to be injected with suspected preparations, filing of law suits against perpetrators of such crimes, and the provision of support from fellow countrymen, health professionals and human rights groups. Similar avenues should be explored to help the victims of Machakil and possibly those next in line.

Although similar cases are known to have existed in other places, the Ethiopian situation appears to be unique and more serious. A specific ethnic group identified as Amara was targeted for vaccination and mass sterilization. In addition, unlike the situation in other places, it was not only women who were the targets of this grand conspiracy, but men were also made to be part of it, as stated in the paper referred to above. In this regard, it is highly important to follow the cases of the men and identify the toxic tablets given to them. This inhuman and cruel treatment of innocent fellow human beings of selected ethnicity is far beyond the violation of medical ethics, but it is a pure act of genocide. The matter should be dealt with accordingly and the perpetrators of the crime should be brought to justice. For the sake of humanity and for everybody’s interest, every effort should be made to assure this.

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The writer can be reached at
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