Islamic clerics dispel polio vaccine rumours

July 26, 2005 - 2:52PM

Muslims have nothing to fear from an upcoming nationwide polio immunisation campaign, Indonesia's highest Islamic body said today, seeking to quell rumours that the vaccine is dangerous and violates Islamic law.

The rumours mirror those that spread in Nigeria in 2003, where polio vaccinations were suspended for several months after radical Islamic preachers warned parents not to vaccinate their children because they believed it was part of a US plot against Muslims.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is battling its first outbreak of polio in 10 years.

So far, 155 children are known to have contracted the virus, which experts say was probably spread to the country from Nigeria, possibly through a returning migrant worker.

Up to 6.5 million children living close to the original outbreak in west Java in April have already been vaccinated. The government and the UN health agency are targeting another 24 million in a nationwide campaign that begins August 30.

The Indonesian Ulama's Council said it supported the immunisation campaign.

"Any effort to keep the people healthy is worthy of our support," said Din Syamsuddin, one of the group's chairmen. "We will disseminate the message though sermons and mosques."

Health officials say the first round of vaccinations was a success, but that fewer parents took their children to the next round a week later because of rumours that several children died as a result of the first round.

The Kompas newspaper quoted another council chairman as saying the vaccine was permitted under Islamic law.

"We hope there are no longer any groups creating rumours that polio vaccine is not halal (permitted under Islamic law)," Umar Shihab was quoted as saying. He did not elaborate on the substance of the rumours.

Polio, which spreads through dirty water, usually infects young children. It attacks the nervous system and causes paralysis, muscular atrophy, deformation and sometimes death.

Polio is still endemic in six countries: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Niger, Afghanistan and Egypt.

