Pakistan: Polio Vaccine Refused Over Rumors of American Plot
February 14, 2007
Polio cases jump in Pakistan as clerics declare vaccination an American plot
Declan Walsh (The Guardian)
The parents of 24,000 children in northern Pakistan refused to allow health workers to administer polio vaccinations last month, mostly due to rumours that the harmless vaccine was an American plot to sterilise innocent Muslim children.
The disinformation – spread by extremist clerics using mosque loudspeakers and illegal radio stations, and by word of mouth – has caused a sharp jump in polio cases in Pakistan and hit global efforts to eradicate the debilitating disease.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recorded 39 cases of polio in Pakistan in 2006, up from 28 in 2005. The disease is concentrated in North-West Frontier Province, where 60% of the refusals were attributed to “religious reasons”.
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1. Pakistan: New Fatwa Encou&hellip | February 26, 2007 at 10:43 pm
[...] reluctant to have their children vaccinated against polio due to fears that the vaccination was actually an American plot to sterilize the children. Pakistani Fatwa Boosts Polio [...]