Vaccines and Misinformation: Kenya’s National Livestock Vaccination Campaign Explained
Kenya's 2025 livestock vaccination campaign aims to vaccinate millions of cattle, sheep, and goats against Foot and Mouth Disease and Peste des Petits Ruminants. Despite the potential benefits, the initiative faces significant opposition, driven by misinformation and scepticism. In this article, we explore the critical role of clear communication and education in overcoming such challenges.
Kenya’s Livestock Vaccination Campaign: An Overview
In January 2025, Kenya launched a large-scale initiative to vaccinate its livestock population, aiming to vaccinate 22 million cattle, 23 million sheep, and 35 million goats over a period of three years.
The campaign aims to combat two highly contagious diseases - Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) - both of which pose serious threats to animal health, productivity, and trade.
By significantly increasing vaccination coverage from the current 10% to an ambitious 85%, the government hopes to strengthen disease control efforts, improve livestock productivity, and enhance Kenya’s competitiveness in global trade.
Challenges and Misinformation: Understanding the Opposition
Despite the programme's potential benefits, the vaccination initiative has faced significant public backlash in Kenya. Some farmers, especially in rural areas, have expressed concerns about the vaccines' safety and the potential impact on livestock. This scepticism is largely fuelled by misinformation circulating on social media and in local communities.
A key source of opposition stems from conspiracy theories suggesting that the vaccination program is part of a broader foreign agenda. Some individuals believe the vaccines are linked to global figures, such as Bill Gates, with claims that his investments in methane-reducing technologies for livestock are connected to the vaccination campaign. These theories have sparked widespread fear that the vaccines may alter the genetic makeup of livestock or have unintended environmental consequences, such as controlling methane emissions from cattle.
Opposition politicians have also contributed to the controversy, questioning the transparency of the programme, calling the initiative “reckless,” claiming that it is shrouded in secrecy and suggesting that it could involve gene-modifying drugs to reduce methane emissions from livestock.
This political opposition, combined with the spread of rumours, has led to significant resistance to the vaccination efforts in certain regions.
The Role of Communication and Education
The resistance to Kenya's livestock vaccination campaign underscores the critical role that communication plays in the success of such initiatives. Misinformation, particularly in rural areas, can have a profound impact on vaccine acceptance.
The challenges faced by Kenya’s livestock vaccination campaign emphasise a crucial reality: science alone is not enough to ensure the success of animal or public health initiatives. Clear, transparent, and culturally relevant communication is equally vital.
Dr Funmilayo Ibitayo Deborah Afolayan from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and a member of the IVVN African Schools Outreach Programme (ASOP) team, emphasised:
Effective communication is vital in combatting vaccine misinformation in Africa, as it fosters public trust and encourages vaccine acceptance.
Beyond immediate communication efforts, investing in education is essential for fostering long-term awareness and understanding of vaccines. In the long run, greater awareness of how vaccines protect livestock can contribute to more informed decision-making within farming communities.
Through the African Schools Outreach Programme, we have supported members of the IVVN community to run science education events in Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Cameron schools – introducing and explaining the science behind veterinary vaccines to young people, helping them understand how they work and their role in protecting animal health, improving livestock productivity, and securing sustainable food systems.
Dr Esther Kanduma, from the IVVN ASOP team, shared her experience, saying,
Through our hands-on rabies vaccination workshops, many students realise the importance of vaccinating dogs to prevent the transmission of rabies to humans if bitten. Many women farmers are unaware that vaccines exist for their poultry, sheep, and goats. It is through our training that they discover how vaccines can help reduce disease outbreaks and prevent economic losses in their livestock.
Dr Afolayan from the IVVN ASOP team further explained how education can have a lasting impact:
By educating schoolchildren about vaccines, we can tackle misinformation, positively shaping how their parents perceive the importance of vaccination. Well-informed children are incredibly effective advocates for vaccine awareness. They influence their parents and communities, empowering them to make informed decisions about vaccination.”
Kenya’s livestock vaccination campaign highlights the importance of the intersection between veterinary science, communication, and education. The success of such initiatives depends not only on the availability of vaccines but also on providing clear and accessible information to ensure communities understand their benefits and can make informed decisions. Investing in education and transparent communication will be critical to support long-term adoption of veterinary vaccines and contribute to healthier and more productive livestock populations.