This news, which was announced at the outset of the government’s four-day vaccination campaigntargeting six million children, marks a shift in government policy toward immunization programs in the north of the country. Nigeria’s polio vaccination program stalled for more than a year after Muslim leaders raised doubts over the inoculations’ safety in the summer of 2003 — resulting in bans issued by some northern state governments.One leader went so far as to claim that the vaccine was “being used for the purpose of depopulating developing countries, and especially Muslim countries.” Other rumors claimed that the vaccines were contaminated with HIV and causedinfertility in Muslim girls.
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