Rumors in Developing World Slow Vaccine

According to this article, the anti polio vaccination rumours that were spread by Nigerian politicians in 2003 are said to be largely responsible for the re-emergence and spread of polio in countries where it was once eradicated. According to a senior official for polio eradication with the World Health Organization (WHO), most of the recent polio cases reported in other countries can be traced back to Nigeria.

In 2003, politicians placed a one-year ban on polio vaccinations while tests were conducted to prove that the vaccination did not contain anti fertility agents. Although the ban was lifted and the vaccine deemed safe, distrust persists throughout the country and the number of polio infections in Nigeria is continuing to rise.

The authors point out that part of the problem regarding this public distrust is due to the failure of health workers to educate people in developing countries about vaccine-related risks. Some officials believe that the failure to educate about risks is wrong, and violates the rights and dignities of people in developing countries. Others refer to the difficulty of educating illiterate and remote populations about the value of the polio vaccine - especially in areas that struggle with deadly epidemics including malaria and diarrhea.

The article concludes with examples of countries where there is a growing resistance to the polio vaccine, including Nigeria, Pakistan, and Kenya. The experience of these countries illustrates the difficulty of stemming vaccination rumours once they have been started.