—claims vaccine “inducing” young girls into early age sex
Mathatisi Sebusi
AN OPPOSITION legislator has made a bizarre call for the government to immediately suspend its Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for adolescent girls, citing concerns regarding its potential health risks, but without providing any concrete evidence to back his claims.
The HVP vaccine has been scientifically proven to reduce the chances of contracting cervical cancer in females by as much as 99 percent.
But Remaketse Sehlabaka, the sole Member of Parliament for the Mpulule Political Summit (MPS) political party, thinks otherwise. He believes the vaccine is “inducing” young girls into wanting to have early age sex, thereby exposing them to more serious diseases like HIV/AIDs and unwanted pregnancies.
To illustrate his seriousness about his strange views, Mr Sehlabaka went as far as introducing a motion in the National Assembly on Friday urging the government to stop the vaccination programme forthwith.
Mr Sehlabaka insisted the vaccine was potentially harmful to girls without citing any concrete evidence.
He bizarrely claimed that once administered the vaccine “induced” girls into having early age sex, exposing them to HIV/AIDS.
But other MPs were not convinced by Mr Sehlabaka’s claims, challenging him to provide evidence to back them.
The HPV vaccination programme was introduced as a global strategy aimed at eliminating cervical cancer in women in 2006 in the US, has been administered more than 270 million times globally, and has been proven to be safe and effective in countless studies.
In Lesotho, it was re-introduced in 2022 after it had been suspended in 2015 due to supply-chain difficulties. The government has since been administering the vaccine to children aged between nine and 18 years.
The Ministry of Health had partnered with the Ministry of Education and Training to facilitate the vaccination of girls in schools.? Health Minister Selibe Mochoboroane has been a key champion of the vaccination programme.? He is likely to be enraged by his fellow MPs strange beliefs.
In May 2024, the health ministry reported it had ?vaccinated 129,621 girls aged nine to 14 years with at least one dose of the HPV vaccine.
The HPV virus accounts for nearly 99 percent of cervical cancer cases, a disease that can be prevented through vaccination.
But Mr Sehlabaka, a member of the social cluster committee, is not convinced.
In an apparently ridiculous claim, he claimed the vaccination initiative “did not yield significant benefits” for the nation and was inadvertently contributing to premature puberty, leading to early engagement in sexual activities and unintended pregnancies among minors.
Mr Sehlabaka claimed that one parent had expressed frustration with the vaccine, claiming that her 13-year-old daughter had become pregnant after “initiating” sexual activities shortly after receiving the vaccine.
“One parent was angry, sharing with me how her 13 year old daughter is pregnant. She had started engaging in sexual activities after being vaccinated with HPV vaccine,” Mr Sehlabaka claimed.
“While this vaccine has been approved by donors and other organisations, it has severe implications on children, which must be scrutinised. Children shouldn’t have been vaccinated in the first place.
“Research shows that PHV virus is transmitted through sexual activities with an infected person and it is unlikely for children as young as nine or 14 years old to engage in sexual activities.”
Mr Sehlabaka said although the vaccine had been approved by various donors and health organizations, its potential adverse effects on children warranted thorough examination.
Mr Sehlabaka said the government should concentrate on addressing what he described as the underlying causes of cancer and other diseases. He proposed a ban on the importation of genetically modified foods, artificial fertilizers, and seeds, advocating instead for the empowerment of Basotho to produce their own seeds and organic fertilizers and foods.
Mr Sehlabaka claimed that genetically modified foods were “detrimental” to the immune system, “weakening” its ability to combat viral infections.
He said rather than focusing on vaccination, the government should improve access to nutrition as an essential tool in fighting against cancer and other diseases. Fostering what he described as “safe food consumption” in the country was the most “viable” preventive measure against cancer. He thus called for “sufficient political commitment” to achieve that end.
However, his seemingly unconvinced fellow legislators expressed concerns over Mr Sehlabaka’s motion, challenging him to produce specific data on the number of children who had encountered issues after getting the vaccine.
‘Mabafokeng Mpobole of the Democratic Congress (DC), challenged Mr Sehlabaka’s motion saying it made little sense. A poor country like Lesotho should be proactive in disease prevention measures like using vaccinations instead of spending meagre resources in treatment.
Lesotho lacked adequate food reserves to even foster nutrition as a disease prevention measure.
Ms Mpobole, who is also a member of the social cluster committee, said during their visits to a cancer centre, they had discovered that many patients lacked adequate nutrition. Prescribing nutrition as a disease prevention measure was therefore a bit rich.
“Individuals have limited choices concerning food, particularly cancer patients. It is unreasonable to expect them to refrain from consuming genetically modified foods,” she said.
Her views were echoed by the DC’s Tsoelike constituency MP, Tseliso Nkoefoshe, who further questioned the veracity of Mr Sehlabaka’s claims against HPV vaccination.
Post Views: 261
