Indian anti-vaccine nuts killing children.

[catsmate]

Diphtheria is back in the southern Indian state of Kerala and so far it's killed two children and left forty more ill. That's an easily preventable disease that's mostly considered a relic of the 1950s.

Muhammad Niyas is a physician in Kerala and watched one of those children die, a death he described as "totally preventable". There's no shortage of vaccine.
Unfortunately there's also no shortage of loons preaching against it, mostly in the Muslim dominated north, where "strong anti-vaccination propaganda" has been disseminated, claiming that the vaccination was part of a plot to "control" the Muslim population.
Anti-vaccination leaflets were handed out and public meetings held to discourage immunisation.
Those behind this campaign, universally without real medical qualifications (though some are homeopaths or naturopaths) also claim the vaccines contain "harmful chemicals".

More.
A death that will haunt me for life.

 

[Jodie]

If the vaccine is manufactured outside of the country then they might be paranoid about them for that reason, thinking a larger 1st world country had ulterior motives. It seems to me that we could spend money setting up local manufacturing companies for vaccines rather than shipping the vaccine itself to the countries to alleviate some of this paranoia. You'll still have to deal with that fear of long term side effects that anti-vaxers seem to promote.

 

[Susheel]

Despite the efforts of the current government India has not yet become the backwater hell hole many perceive it to be. Indian companies ds manufacture many of the more commonly available vaccines in the country. The current issue stems from a socio-political milieu in which a fundamentalist Hindu government at the centre has quite overtly generated a reactionary suspicion among a fundamentalist Islamic segment of the populace.

 

[The Atheist]

Diphtheria is back in the southern Indian state of Kerala and so far it's killed two children and left forty more ill. That's an easily preventable disease that's mostly considered a relic of the 1950s.

Sounds like New Zealand - doctors here have been warning of a diphtheria epidemic here thanks to the absurdly low rate of vaccinations. Up to half of all kids in some parts of California aren't vaccinated.

Idiots are everywhere.

We should rejoice.

My aunt died of diphtheria in 1920, when she was 7. Hooray for progress of humankind.

Apologies for the cynicism.

 

[TheGoldcountry]

As far as I am concerned, there is no such thing as too much cynicism when it comes to this anti-vax nonsense.

 

[The Atheist]

As far as I am concerned, there is no such thing as too much cynicism when it comes to this anti-vax nonsense.

I have to confess it's the one subject that makes my blood boil immediately. I will not sit and listen to anyone spouting anti-vax propaganda, and it's the only subject I'd be ready and willing to defend to death. You can bring all the bigfoot, 9/11 CT, perpetual motion, alien Moon Hoax nutters and I wouldn't bother blinking, but show me an anti-vaxer and I go into Neapolitan/Rottweiler cross mode.

Anti-vaxers are the sickest kind of human alive. They suffer from some weird form of Münchhausen by Proxy Syndrome where they get pleasure from causing the death of children.

 

[Graham2001]

As far as I am concerned, there is no such thing as too much cynicism when it comes to this anti-vax nonsense.

Agreed, you have in the case below you have several White Guys peddling anti-vax conspiracy theories to African American community leaders:

...the last thing we need is something that can contribute to the worsening of the general distrust that many African-Americans feel toward the medical profession. That’s why it’s so despicable of Andrew Wakefield and Del Bigtree to throw gasoline on the fire with their antivaccine movie VAXXED or its promotion of the “CDC Whistleblower” myth that the CDC somehow “covered up” evidence showing that the MMR causes autism in African-American boys...

...designed to target the African-American community with a story almost custom made to take advantage of the aforementioned distrust of the medical profession that runs rampant in the African-American community, particularly poorer African-American communities.

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2...an-americans-with-antivaccine-misinformation/

 

[catsmate]

If the vaccine is manufactured outside of the country then they might be paranoid about them for that reason, thinking a larger 1st world country had ulterior motives. It seems to me that we could spend money setting up local manufacturing companies for vaccines rather than shipping the vaccine itself to the countries to alleviate some of this paranoia. You'll still have to deal with that fear of long term side effects that anti-vaxers seem to promote.

India is self-sufficient wrt production of DPT and DT vaccines (along with TT, BCP, polio, measles, MMR, Hep B and rabies) and has been since at least 1999 AFAIK and probably many years earlier. There are several vaccine producers, public and private sector.

 

[catsmate]

Despite the efforts of the current government India has not yet become the backwater hell hole many perceive it to be. Indian companies ds manufacture many of the more commonly available vaccines in the country. The current issue stems from a socio-political milieu in which a fundamentalist Hindu government at the centre has quite overtly generated a reactionary suspicion among a fundamentalist Islamic segment of the populace.

Indeed vaccine production and research in India are well established and effective.

 

[catsmate]

Sounds like New Zealand - doctors here have been warning of a diphtheria epidemic here thanks to the absurdly low rate of vaccinations. Up to half of all kids in some parts of California aren't vaccinated.

Idiots are everywhere.

We should rejoice.

My aunt died of diphtheria in 1920, when she was 7. Hooray for progress of humankind.

Apologies for the cynicism.

I have a slight personal interest; some years ago I was exposed to diphtheria in London because of a couple of idiotic USAian parents who didn't have their children vaccinated and travelled to several countries where it was prevalent.

 

[Civet]

I remember being impressed when India was certified polio-free years ago. Let's hope they don't lose that status.

 

[Susheel]

Add to this the fact that the goverment actively promotes woo in place of medicinr.

 

[blutoski]

Add to this the fact that the goverment actively promotes woo in place of medicinr.

I think this is the main problem, unfortunately. India and Pakistani government officials are a little too interdependent on cash from altmedders, mostly homeopaths. We had an active homeopath on this very forum who was boasting about his endorsements from Pakistani army brass, for example.

The second problem is that even if the vaccines are manufactured domestically, it's still seen as a foreign project and mistrusted. It doesn't help that the assassination of Osama bin Laden was facilitated by a spy posing as an MD who was using the cover to take DNA samples in the community. Link: [Senior Pakistani doctor who organised vaccine programme in Abbottabad arrested by ISI for working with US agents]. In other words: vaccination programs are now regarded as a CIA plot in many Asian communities.

 

[The Atheist]

Add to this the fact that the goverment actively promotes woo in place of medicinr.

Yes, and not about to change any time soon.

You have a very hard sell over there and have my complete sympathy.

Still, as I see the people lining up here for their ayurvedic astrology consultations, at least you can take heart that people in other countries are buying it, too.