Via allAfrica.com, an IRIN report: Vaccine Suspicion Aggravates Measles Outbreak in Nigeria. Excerpt:
Kano — An ongoing measles outbreak, which killed 36 children and infected over 4,000 in northern Nigeria between 16 February and 9 March, has been linked to a drop-off in immunizations due to vaccine shortages in regional health clinics and widespread suspicion of the vaccine, say government health officials.
Many parents have declined to vaccinate their children against measles as they believe the vaccine is harmful, according to Ado Mohammed, director-general of Nigeria's National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
"Parents are largely to blame... for their refusal to have their children immunized against preventable diseases including measles due to unfounded suspicion that such vaccines are harmful to children, following persistent rumours that polio vaccine causes infertility in children," he told IRIN.
Distrust of vaccines has grown as parents often do not differentiate between the polio vaccine and other immunizations, according to Mohammed. The 12 states affected by the measles outbreak mirror those where polio is endemic and where resistance against the polio vaccine is highest.
Kano State has reported over 1,000 measles cases, and Katsina State 1,260.
