Vaccine Boycott Grows in Northern Nigeria

[DuctapeFatwa]

Two more states in Nigeria's Islamic north joined a boycott Tuesday of a massive polio immunization campaign, demanding government proof the vaccines don't spread AIDS or sterility as Islamic leaders contend.

Nigeria, meanwhile, announced it would be days before it had results of lab tests meant to prove the vaccine's safety too late to change any minds among Muslim leaders in the four states that are blocking the immunization campaign, due to end Thursday.

Northern Nigeria Islamic leaders say the immunization campaign is part of a U.S. plot to depopulate Muslim northern Nigeria by spreading AIDS or sterilizing agents. Northern states maintain their own lab tests show contaminants in the vaccine.

Fourteen million people live in the four states that have blocked the immunization.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040224_1427.html

[Superfly]

1. The most dangerous thing in the entire world

is a government crippled by religious fundamentalism.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. Put it together with a giant pariah state bent on population reduction

and you got a lotta danger there.

[Superfly]

10. So, you are buying this lie as well?

That the US is trying to reduce the popluation with sterilization and AIDS-laced drugs?

Yeah, riiiiiiight.

[DuctapeFatwa]

11. The US employs a variety of methods to achieve its objectives regarding

its extraterritorial properties and the securing of its natural resources therein located.

America's territories in Africa are proving to be a quite profitable source of revenue, and operations for maximizing profits continues and is progressing nicely.

[mobuto]

13. Are you fucking kidding me?

You seriously believe that the US is spreading AIDS in Northern Nigeria?

[Nay]

3. And people crippled by gross superstition. Sad.

[dfong63]

4. think first before you condemn this as "superstition"

in africa, there is widespread re-use of needles. think about the implications of that before you condemn these people as "ignorant" or "superstitious".

oh, and read the WHOLE ARTICLE linked to by DuctapeFatwa before you condemn these people as "superstitious". people have excellent reasons to be suspicious.

``...
New AIDS suspect: Researchers say reuse of needles as much to blame as sex behavior

San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, December 1, 2002
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer

As African nations reel from huge HIV infection rates, a maverick theory that blames much of the epidemic on the reuse of contaminated hypodermic needles in medical settings is stirring controversy and prompting new research into the roots of the AIDS catastrophe.

Although the link between HIV infection and needle sharing among injection drug users is well-known, a small band of U.S. researchers is proposing that unsanitary medical practices in poor countries may be spreading the disease as much -- if not more -- than drug abuse or unprotected sex.
...

The reuse of a hypodermic needle is unthinkable in Western medical circles, but the practice is commonplace in Africa, where an estimated 29.4 million are infected with HIV, and in India and China, where experts fear the AIDS epidemic is about to explode.

According to a 1999 World Health Organization study, at least half of all medical injections in a group of 17 developing countries were "unsafe." According to Gisselquist and others, the epidemic has been fueled by the reuse of disposable needles, which are meant for a single use. Instead, the needles are reused without sterilization by medical clinics with few resources, and by street-corner "injection doctors" who provide vitamins and antibiotics, transmitting the virus from patient to patient.
...
...''

[NickB79]

7. So, because some people reused needles, we give up?

Wouldn't it make more sense to simply provide either fresh needles or detergents to sterilize old needles for safe reuse, instead of saying screw it to polio vaccines? I can understand their fears, but wouldn't this simple request counter most of them?

[mobuto]

14. This is a WHO program we're talking about

The WHO doesn't reuse vaccination needles. End of story.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

17. Not end of story.

Been there. Seen it. It doesn't matter who (pun intended) is funding, supervising, or promoting vaccination campaigns. It doesn't matter the protocols. It happens much more frequently than "end of story".

Now, if you said that WHO protocols CALL for disposables, etc...

[mobuto]

19. I've seen no evidence nor any reason to believe

that any WHO vaccination program anywhere in the world recycles vaccination needles. You have evidence to the contrary? Show it.

The WHO report you were referring to was not condemning vaccination procedures at all.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

20. what WHO report? I didn't refer to any WHO report...

...but if you surf WHO's site, and sites related to vaccination campaigns by a variety of orgs working in various developing country, you should be able to come up with a number of documents that cite reuse of syringes as a significant problem in vaccination campaigns. Additionally, you can probably find some of the training materials that orgs use in training local health workers who help carry out vaccination programs.

If you've not seen the documentation, it's because you refuse to look for it.

As for me - I'll say it again...I have been on-the-ground during vaccination campaigns in a number of developing countries. I have seen local staff and expats inapproriately reusing injectables. I'll add that, within my roles, I have corrected such negligence.

[dfong63]

5. what's just as sad

... is posters who jump to the easy conclusion about other people's "superstitions", without first looking into the facts.

there are good reasons for people to be suspicious of vaccines.

was it "superstitious" of our own military personnel who refused to take the anthax jabs? i don't think so.

did you know that vaccines (even in this country) used to contain thimerosol, a compound that contains mercury? and some vaccines STILL DO? this winter, my employer sponsored a "clinic" for employees to get free flu shots. the email warned that "pregnant women" or "people who are allergic to thimerosol" should not sign up for the shots. of course, the email did not disclose what thimerosol actually is.

[NickB79]

8. You realize how much thimerosol is in a vaccine shot?

The amount is measured in micrograms (1 microgram is 1/1000 of a gram). You get more mercury from a single meal of most kinds of fish than from a single vaccine injection, yet you don't see many people swearing off fish for life. Not even all vaccines use thimerosol, only those that require long-term storage. While I'd prefer vaccines that didnt contain thimerosol (they do exist and are becoming more common, because thimerosol is simply a preservative, not vital to the effectiveness of the vaccine itself), I don't lose sleep over it.

[dfong63]

23. stop spreading ignorance

The amount is measured in micrograms (1 microgram is 1/1000 of a gram). You get more mercury from a single meal of most kinds of fish than from a single vaccine injection, yet you don't see many people swearing off fish for life.

the fact that something is "measured in micrograms" may sound reassuring, but the actual number when measured in micrograms can be quite high.

here's one link for free.

``...
The FDA said that infants who are being vaccinated using multi-dose vials with thimerosol might receive up to 62.5 micrograms of mercury per visit. For an average-sized child, this represents an exposure approximately 100 times greater than the 0.1 micrograms per kilogram of daily exposure considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency. A growing number of doctors and researchers are concerned that increased rates of autism, a neurological disorder characterized by impairments in language, cognitive and social development, may be linked with such vaccinations.
...''

and as for the amount of mercury in a meal of fish - yes, a lot of people are reducing their intake of fish, because they are HEEDING GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES. the amount in fish is not negligible, and neither is the amount in vaccines. furthermore, the guidelines are even stricter for pregnant and nursing women.

now, getting back to the amount of mercury preservative in a dose of vaccine - there was a major scandal a few years back because the composition of vaccines was not being strictly controlled. some doses were too strong, others too weak. common sense says that if the manufacturers weren't adequately controlling the strength, they also weren't adequately controlling the other ingredients.

[mobuto]

12. WTF

We're not talking about Anthrax shots. Currently there's been a large outbreak of Polio in Nigeria because of this superstitious hokum and as a result lots of kids are dying. That's a direct result and you're not going to get away with killing people because you convince them to be scared of fearmongering hoopla.

[dfong63]

22. your reasoning is circular

you continue to call this "superstitious hokum" but you haven't debunked the facts - you are shutting your eyes to the evidence that their fears are well founded. i guess some people just can't get over the prejudice that the natives are ignorant, superstitious savages.

[mobuto]

18. Deleted Message

[dfong63]

6. additional text from article

``...
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the committee's interim report that ruled the vaccines safe. However, it acknowledged the tests showed "trace amounts of estradiol," a form of the female hormone estrogen the vaccine's Muslim detractors claim could cause infertility.
...''

so, if the US government came out and said "oh, yeah, the vaccines we're giving to everyone are just a little bit contaminated, but it's not enough to worry about," would YOU worry?

i would.

[NickB79]

9. Males naturally produce estradiol

I quote from one of my college textbooks. Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach. Second Edition, Silverthorn, 2001, pg 738.

"The testes also contain the enzyme aromatase, which converts testosterone to estradiol, the main estrogen in humans. A small amount of additional estrogen is made by peripheral tissues. Although males synthesize estrogens, their feminizing effects are usually not obvious."

A hormone human males have evolved to produce over millions of years will turn around and make them sterile when administered at trace amounts, when their own bodies produce more in a few minutes than found in one dose of this vaccine? You can hardly call this a contaminant, especially at trace amounts.

The past few generations of children in the US have recieved polio vaccines, yet I haven't seen any evidence of widespread infertility here, have you?

[dfong63]

25. read "our stolen future"

or visit the web site. there is lots of evidence that male fertility is in decline. i'm not claiming it was vaccines that did it, of course. i'm just pointing this out because it underscores the fallacious assumptions that underlie your argument.

here's one link

[DuctapeFatwa]

15. From CNN story on this yesterday

Kano state will not participate in tomorrow's polio campaign. Our team made the discovery of contaminants first, remember," state government spokesman Sule Ya'u Sule told The Associated Press, referring to tests the state says its scientists conducted on the polio vaccine last year.

"Unless we are convinced by our committee that the oral polio vaccines are safe, the exercise remains suspended in Kano state," Sule said.

Nigerian officials had hoped to resolve the dispute by dispatching a team of scientists, politicians and Islamic religious leaders to observe a battery of tests on the vaccines in South Africa and India earlier this month.

Nigerian Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo would not divulge the outcome of the visit, which he said ended last week. He gave no explanation of why the results were not being revealed -- saying only that Nigeria's government would forge ahead with the campaign regardless of opposition.

"We are not going to be bothered" by the boycott, Lambo told The Associated Press, without elaborating.

Kano state officials say their lab tests carried out late last year found estrogen and other female sex hormones in the polio vaccine -- proof, they say, that the vaccines are contaminated.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/02/22/nigeria.polio.ap/

[DuctapeFatwa]

21. Govt probe panel on polio withholds findings, waits for India

THE committee set up by the Federal Government to verify the safety of the oral polio vaccines has deferred the release of its findings to allow for the outcome of tests conducted in India.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF had hoped that the results would reassure Nigerians that the vaccines are safe, and avert failure of the ongoing nationwide immunisation.

The deferment of the verification notwithstanding, Jigawa State government has rescinded its decision to stop the immunisation in the state, saying the exercise would be conducted there next week.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/f325022004.html

[clspector]

16. know what

I had a polio vaccine as well as a small pox vaccine. (There -- guess how old I must be)

And I'm damn glad my mother was worried enough about my health that she took me to have them. See, she had a cousin who got polio and saw first hand what horrific fucking disease it is.

If you believe that WHO's goals are anything more than trying to save the lives of those children then you live in a sad, paranoid world. And the parents and governments who would rather let their children risk becoming infected by polio and either die a miserable death or live deformed or crippled than accept help from WHO well, there's real love for you.

[dfong63]

24. your argument is purely emotional

ignoring the evidence that these people have plenty of reason to be afraid of vaccinations.

And I'm damn glad my mother was worried enough about my health that she took me to have them.

oh, so i guess these ignorant superstitious hokum-believing savages don't care about their children, eh?