The war against Polio

[classical_hero]

http://www.dw.de/violence-hampers-polio-eradication-in-pakistan/a-17379181

Several people have been killed in the latest wave of violence against polio vaccinators in Pakistan. The attacks undermine government efforts to eradicate the virus in one of the few countries where it remains endemic.

It is certainly fascinating to see how some people are so desperate to keep people under their submission. I have no idea why they would even be against trying to eradicate this terrible disease.

In related news the disease is making a comeback in Syria due to the violence there.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Well, there are probably deep-seated political and social tensions being aired in such a violent manner, but hey, assuming they're just savages that oppose all progress is a simpler narrative that doesn't induce as many headaches and difficult questions, right?

 

[El_Machinae]

Polio's on my most immediate list of "2 minutes of hate". In my region, only the Rotary Club is a charity that makes efforts against it, and so they get my money. I encourage others to do this too, we're talking about the extinction of something that keeps poor people poor.

So, to answer the OP, there's the normal anti-vax stuff. Plus ...

In its zeal to identify bin Laden or his family, the CIA used a sham hepatitis B vaccination project to collect DNA in the neighborhood where he was hiding.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-vaccination-campaign-endangers-us-all/

 

[peter grimes]

Thanks for posting that link, El Mach. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the headline in the OP.

it will be tragically interesting to see how many children die or are afflicted because of the USA's rejection of rationality after 9/11.

 

[warpus]

There are more and more idiots here in the west who are against vaccinations of any kind as well.

Although in Pakistan's case it appears to be ignorance more than anything.

 

[peter grimes]

I don't agree with this, Warpus. I'd say the ignorance is higher here in USA than in Pakistan - at the very least, the CIA gave Pakistanis a really good reason to not trust people coming into their villages with promises of free medicine.

Here in the US we unfortunately have first-world morons who, through no fault of their own, were given high school diplomas even though they didn't learn any critical thinking skills or a basic understanding of the science and biology.

I can't really fault the people in Pakistan who a skeptical. They at least are acting rationally (it's relative, though). But 1st-world anti-vaxxers?? They're worse than creationists since their wrong-headed choices will impact their kids with bad medicine instead of just bankrupt ideas.

 

[Formaldehyde]

So, to answer the OP, there's the normal anti-vax stuff. Plus ...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-vaccination-campaign-endangers-us-all/

Indeed.

How again was misusing medical personnel handing out free vaccines to try to determine bin Laden's location such a good idea, thereby giving this group even more ammo to spread fear and paranoia among the ignorant?

How is this all that different than Christian Scientists refusing to inoculate their own children?

It really makes me wonder if we should simply make some vaccines mandatory, and by force if necessary. It would actually be a case where the government was here to help everybody, whether they wanted it to or not.

 

[peter grimes]

The problem with that, being, of course, that as much as I trust the medical establishment I still think that parents should be able to exercise a bit of discretion when it comes to health decisions about their children.

For example, I'm far from an anti-vaxxer, but I do think that there's no harm in doing a "delayed" vaccnination schedule. I was persuaded to this view by the prevalence and potential danger of injection aluminum. See Dr Sears for the gist of it.

Our daughter will get every single vaccine as every other kid, timed to their likely exposure, and without loading her system with hundreds of micrograms of aluminum at a single go.

I've no doubt that some people think this is overly cautious, but I don't see a real downside to this choice. And I wouldn't have this choice if vaccines were mandatory full stop. Of course, many vaccines already *are* mandatory in so far as you can't enroll your child in public school without them. So we're already mostly there?