Nearly two years after radical Islamic preachers told parents to refuse to have their children vaccinated against polio for fear it was part of a U.S. plot against Muslims, the repercussions are still being felt: A Nigerian strain of the virus that causes the crippling disease has cropped up as far away as Indonesia. [snip]In Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city, many residents still refuse to have their children vaccinated, not just against polio but against other childhood diseases such as measles. "They said the vaccines will endanger our daughters. Now they think otherwise. I am yet to be convinced," said 37-year-old father of four Mustafa Balarabe. He said his children wouldn't be vaccinated, citing "the general Western plot against Muslims worldwide."
An imam in Kano, 50-year-old Ibrahim Abubakar, was unapologetic. "The boycott of the polio vaccine in Kano was necessary to fulfill the religious injunction, which tells us to find out about a thing when we have doubts," he said. "I do not agree that we exported polio to any country. If these countries were carrying out vaccinations ... they should not have had any cases"... Since 2003, the paralyzing, waterborne illness has spread from Nigeria to Sudan, where it has infected 149 people. Along with 10 other west and central African nations, it has also spread to Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, but vaccination campaigns have averted major outbreaks in those countries. The spread of the disease to Yemen last month, however, has been labeled by WHO as "a major epidemic," with 22 cases confirmed in a country that had previously been considered free of polio.