Pakistan polio threat of vacc conspiracy theory

Rumors of a US conspiracy aimed against innocent Muslim children in northern Pakistan are obstructing anti-polio vaccination efforts by international groups, including the World Health Organization.

The conspiracy theories are being spread by some Islamic clerics using a combination of mosque loudspeakers, unlicensed radio stations and word of mouth, according to a report in the UK's Guardian newspaper. Vaccination programs are accused of delivering "infidel vaccine." Similar conspiracy theories in Afghanistan, India and Nigeria have ensured that the disease is still categorized as "endemic" in those countries. Worse still, a similar campaign in northern Nigeria's Kano state in 2003 led to polio spreading back to 12 previously infection-free countries, over an 18-month period.

In order to overcome skeptics as well as local firebrand preachers who exploit suspicion of foreigners, health workers in the North-West Frontier province of Pakistan have been issued with copies of a religious decree (fatwa) endorsing the vaccination program, on behalf of two of the country's most senior religious figures. Despite this, 24,000 children have failed to be vaccinated for polio in the region.