Saturday, August 20, 2005

Saudis move to end polio spread, anti-vaccine paranoia the cause of the outbreak

On the surface, it seems like a sensible thing: Ensuring that people who enter the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have been vaccinated for polio.

From the Arab News:

Young pilgrims coming for Haj or Umrah from polio-hit countries will have to prove that they have been immunized against the crippling virus, according to an advisory issued by the Ministry of Health yesterday.

The new directive, which comes ahead of the high Umrah season of Ramadan in October and the Haj in January, covers visitors under the age of 15 from the 19 countries currently reporting polio cases.

Pilgrims in that age group must show valid proof of vaccination in order to obtain entry visas for the Kingdom. The regulation applies to visitors from Afghanistan, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

But why the need?

Via Daniel Pipes' site, I found this information from an AP article this March:

In 2003, Islamic clerics claimed the United States was using polio vaccine to sterilize Muslims or contaminate them with the AIDS virus. They ordered a boycott in messages disseminated from mosques, in radio broadcasts and by door-to-door campaigning.

The U.S. Embassy called the claims "absolutely ridiculous."

But three powerful state governors in the north joined the polio boycott, and it dragged on 11 months before authorities persuaded the governors in July to accept vaccine bought from the predominantly Muslim nation of Indonesia.

By then the number of polio cases in Nigeria had risen fivefold, and the crippling disease had spread to nine other African countries where it previously had been eradicated.

Now there are fears the anti-vaccine sentiment could also affect (an ongoing) measles outbreak.

No mention of the anti-vaccine paranoia in that Arab News article.

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