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.
A second reason to continue the push is that polio eradication would send a powerful message to the world at a time when a little more belief in the power of global cooperation would be a very useful thing. Despite the complexity of the eradication program, and despite all of the poverty and corruption in the countries where polio remains, the campaign has already suggested that when the global community works together it can achieve incredible things.
According to World Health Organization, there are four countries in which the transmission of polio has never been stopped: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. They face a range of challenges, such as insecurity, weak health systems and poor sanitation.
