The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) has portrayed Nigerian clergyman, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome as an anti-malaria vaccine preacher in a recently published report.
The report highlighted the Christ Embassy general overseer’s stance against the malaria vaccine in Africa.
The BBC also added that Pastor Chris strongly opposes the vaccine, citing his statement that “…there has never been any evidence that vaccines are effective”.
According to a YouTube broadcast by the cleric, the online media organization reported that he believes that the vaccine has been misrepresented to everyone.
As per BBC reports, Pastor Chris claims that the malaria vaccine is a tool created to reduce the global population. He also mentioned that healthcare professionals are worried that the pastor’s anti-vaccine messages could hinder Africa’s efforts in combating the disease.
According to the media platform, in August 2023, the pastor had warned in a sermon of “an evil agenda that has been long in the making”, apart from alleging that “malaria was never a problem to those in Africa”.
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The platform quoted the reaction of a World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman to such a stance as follows:
- “Spreading false information about vaccines, especially from influential figures like religious leaders, can contribute to the perpetuation of myths and misconceptions, further fuelling vaccine hesitancy.
- “This can have devastating consequences for public health, particularly in the WHO African region where vaccine-preventable diseases occur frequently.”
It was also gathered that Pastor Oyakhilome’s remarks were included as one of the disinformation trends “to watch” ahead of the malaria vaccine rollout in a report released in March by The Africa Infodemic Response Alliance backed by WHO.
BBC said it asked (via mail) Oyakhilome about his statements against vaccination but got no response from him.
What You Need To Know
Sometimes in 2020, the pastor reacted to the guidelines rolled out by the federal government for the gradual reopening of churches.
In a video that has been making rounds online, the pastor said that one cannot say they believe in Jesus Christ and be afraid of viruses, adding that Jesus healed the sick by touching the bible.
Brief Description Of Pastor Chris Oyahkhilome
He founded the Christ Embassy church in Nigeria’s main city, Lagos, in the 1990s and went on to amass hundreds of thousands of followers around the world.
In the year 2011, he gained recognition in Forbes magazine as one of the wealthiest pastors in Nigeria, possessing an approximate fortune ranging from $30m to $50m (£24m to £40m).
As stated by the publication, the pastor’s financial ventures encompassed a wide array of businesses such as newspapers, magazines, a regional television network, a music label, satellite TV, hotels, and substantial real estate holdings.
Pastor Oyakhilome delivers his sermons every week at the expansive campground in Asese, situated along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
His empire, known as LoveWorld Inc, has experienced significant expansion, encompassing a streaming service, a messaging app boasting over a million downloads on Google’s app store, and even a microfinance bank.
When the BBC visited the church last November, hundreds of pastors from different nationalities filled its auditorium for an annual conference. Flags of dozens of countries were displayed inside.
His “massive online teachings and healing services” have a global attendance of “7 billion people”, according to the Christ Embassy’s website – this is highly unlikely given that the planet’s population is estimated at eight billion.
How Pastor Chris Misquoted Bill Gates’s 2010 Sermon
In a report published by BBC on Thursday, the media platform analyzed how Mr. Oyakhilome misquoted a clip from a TED talk Bill Gates gave in 2010 during one of his sermons in August 2023.
The pastor claimed Gates was among “those who have an agenda for depopulation of the world”.
While giving a talk on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, Mr Gates said: “First, we’ve got population. The world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s headed up to about nine billion. Now, if we do a great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by, perhaps, 10 or 15%.”
His declaration was taken out of context by Pastor Oyakhilome. Mr Gates did not advocate for the world’s depopulation.
He has clarified in the past that he saw population growth and health improvement as complementary: “When health improves, families choose to have fewer kids.”
Mr Oyakhilome also said that the World Mosquito Program facility in Colombia belonged to the Gates Foundation, accusing it of producing genetically modified mosquitoes as a strategy for depopulation.
The mosquito factory, established to reduce the ability of mosquitoes to transmit viruses, belongs to a non-profit group of companies owned by Monash University in Australia, and it has stressed that its method does not involve the use of genetically modified organisms.
Nigeria’s Mass Vaccination Campaign For Girls
To significantly decrease cervical cancer rates, Nigeria initiated a large-scale immunization campaign for girls in October 2023. This devastating disease takes the lives of more than 8,000 Nigerian women annually.
A significant study supported by Cancer Research UK in 2021 revealed that the HPV vaccine was responsible for a nearly 90% reduction in cervical cancer cases.
In the past, Pastor Oyakhilome made multiple unfounded claims about anti-tetanus injections, polio vaccines, and other childhood immunizations.
The pastor also falsely stated that the messenger RNA vaccine alters the DNA.
However, the vaccine does not alter people’s DNA. It takes part of a virus’s genetic material – or messenger RNA – to make the immune system learn to recognize it and produce antibodies.
