Bringing it Back!
Muslim Suspicion of Polio Vaccine Lingers On
The success of the global effort to eradicate polio may rest on the outcome of a week-long tour of India, South Africa and Indonesia by a Nigerian delegation which has been conducting tests on polio vaccines used for immunisation in Nigeria.
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The federal government is hoping this high-powered delegation will these polio vaccines the all clear. That would help to dispel widespread suspicion in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria that the vaccines contain anti-fertility agents and the virus that causes AIDS.
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The word that polio vaccines were contaminated was first spread by some Islamic preachers. Their claims assumed greater credibility when they were taken up by the self-proclaimed Supreme Council for Shari'ah in Nigeria (SCSN), an organisation led by physician and one-time presidential aspirant Datti Ahmed.
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"I heard about the controversy but my husband agreed that we still give our baby the polio vaccine," Amina Abdulkadir, a 28-year-old mother in Kano city told IRIN. She said that she and her husband had seen the effects of polio on other children and did not want their own to suffer the same fate.
At least there are still a few parents with some sense. This reminds me of the awesome and completely bunk rumour that Autism is caused by vaccines. But hey, if we're going to bring back medieval times, why stop at Polio? Bring back plague!