According the Telegraph Taliban militants in Swat Valley in Northern Pakistan have obstructed officials from vaccinating over 300,000 children. Militants have seized control of most of Swat and its capital, Mingora, and have extended their rule since striking a peace deal with the government and army earlier this year.
“There is a real emergency there. It is urgent to go in and vaccinate children,” said Dr Nima Abid, the Polio Team leader from the World Health Organisation in Pakistan. “Polio vaccination is effective in first three months of the year when virus transmission is lowest and so there is no interference with the vaccine virus,” said Dr Abid.
Militants had reportedly agreed to allow the vaccination program to take place as part of the peace agreements. However, they had reneged on their word and despite assiduous efforts made by the increasingly irrelevant local administration, no vaccinations have taken place.
“It’s a US tool to cut the population of the Muslims. It is against Islam that you take a medicine before the disease”, said, Muslim Khan, Swat’s Taliban spokesman, speaking by telephone.
Swat had recorded 4 cases of polio last year of the total 53 recorded by NWFP and the tribal areas. Pakistan had 118 cases in 2009.
Militants in the tribal areas of Bajaur and Mohmand have also opposed polio vaccinations.
It’s not the first time that Islamists have obstructed attempts to eradicate polio but their sheer idiocy continues to anger. Perhaps the bastards will do something decent and for once and evolve into a higher life form – an amoeba might not be out of their reach.
10 comments:
Interesting. My Mom had polio when she was young. She was born before the vaccine. She wasn't able to walk until she was around 10. The treatment to get her there was horrible too. So, my siblings and I had more doses of the vaccine growing up than they require. Needless to say, I am for the vaccine. It is nearly gone, especially in the US. I haven't heard of any cases. The last thing we need to stop vaccines and have another outbreak, though. Atleast in my opinion.
Polio was common in the U.S. in my childhood, so much so that people avoided public swimming pools where it could be transmitted (at least in theory). As a result, I was not taught to swim until years later than most children learn, and I am a terrible swimmer to this day. At least I didn't contract polio.
Opposition to modern medicine on religious grounds is by no means limited to Muslim extremists. A number of Christian sects in America deny their kids medical treatment even in response to illness. In the case of stemming epidemics like polio, I think public health considerations must be allowed to override personal beliefs: polio does not ask what religion a child belongs to when it ruins his or her life forever. The lives of kids who are not religious extremists must be considered.
this post shocks me. i annot imagine how in this day n age, this can still happen. my country is an islamic country too but we place a lot of emphasis on vaccinations. they r putting all the kids at risk
Luckily Polio is hirtoy in most countries Ordinary& awesome. But until it is eradicated it could mutate and come back with a vengeance
I know withholding treatment is not just confined to Muslims.. I find the Jehovah's Witnesses views of transfusions utter madness
THey certainly are Bengbeng. it is utter stupidity in my view
I trained as a nurse, in the mid-fifties. We still had polio victims in Canada. The ones, with breathing problems, were put in iron lungs. They were in a special hospital, and all nurses had to work there 6 months before they would become registered. I can asssure you that, if the people refusing the vaccine for their children would lie in one of those respirator tanks for 2 hours, they would change their mind quickly.
Oh my God!!!! What idiots they are!!!!!
I remember having a problem with really sore legs smack in the middle of 'polio season' when I was eight. My parents were so panicked they actually took me to the doctor. Fortunately, it was a minor thing.
The next year they came out with the polio vaccine shots and they gave them at school. Now it's an oral vaccine and a real no-brainer.
And it saves lives!!!!!
I think the Taliban needs a shot . . . in their wicked heads.
I would like to think that the sight of an iron lung would change their minds Claudia, but sadly I doubt it
It's a no brainer but not for scum with no brains It does not seem to register Kay
Of course this is not religion as we know it. Most expressions of religion are life affirming. What makes this type of lunacy off the charts is its disregard for public safety.
Do dead children serve any purpose.
Totalitarians of all stripes are about power and people are just numbers in the power game. Theocracy is just a dreadful idea.
I find the idea of a theocracy abhorrent. The block is simply disgusting
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