Vacc-derived polio hits Nigeria: WHO "cover up"

The World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have come under attack for delaying the public announcement that, since 2005, 71 children have been infected in Nigeria and Niger with polio as a result of taking an oral vaccine against the disease. The revelation that both agencies knew of the problem over a year ago comes as the polio eradication program is already under pressure, with local Muslim clerics claiming that the WHO campaign is part of a conspiracy to sterilize Islamic children (Marketletters passim).

According to news agency MSNBC, the most recent case of 69 children in Nigeria and two in Niger is not unique. In 2001, 22 children were paralysed in the Dominican Republic and Haiti from vaccine-derived polio virus (VDPV). China, Indonesia, Madagascar and the Philippines have since then experienced similar outbreaks.

The decision by the WHO and the CDC to suppress public knowledge of the Nigerian outbreak has already prompted accusations of cover up and conspiracy there. Olen Kew, a CDC virologist, said: "the people who are against immunization may seize on anything that could strengthen their position." The WHO claimed that, because the outbreak was "operational," it did not need to be discussed outside the agency's scientific committee.