A Kenyan doctor who strongly opposed mass Covid-19 vaccines died from the deadly virus weeks after saying the jabs were “totally unnecessary”.

Dr. Stephen Karanja, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, led a team of doctors from the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association who discouraged people from getting the vaccines.

“A vaccine for Covid-19 is unnecessary and should not be given. We appeal to all the people of Kenya to avoid taking this vaccine,” Karanja wrote in a letter dated March 3, a day after a million doses of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine arrived in Kenya.

The group’s call to boycott the vaccines was refuted by the Catholic church.

Experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) also rejected the doctors’ claims, which included population control conspiracies and promoting the idea that that steam and hydroxychloroquine can treat Covid-19. WHO assured the public that the jabs were safe.

However, the doctors argued, “We know for a fact that there are drugs that have been repurposed and used effectively to treat Covid-19. We also know that vaccination for this disease is totally unnecessary making the motivation suspect,”

Kenya has so far recorded more than 160,000 cases and 2,700 Covid deaths. It has had a number of lockdowns since March 2020 when the first case was reported in the country.