# Where did fundamentalist Islam's polio vaccine paranoia come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2012, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266 "2012-12-27T10:00:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/1 "2012-12-27T10:00:23Z")
And how has it spread so widely? India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali, Nigeria all have Islamic factions that have refused vaccines on the suspicion that it is an anti-Islamic plot. Was there, at any point, an organised campaign against the polio vaccine? Does anyone have any information on it? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/2 "2012-12-27T10:06:38Z")
Dunno, but if it’s new, it’s likely related to this recent news bit: > **[CIA organised fake vaccination drive to get Osama bin Laden's family DNA](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vaccinations-osama-bin-ladens-dna)** > > Senior Pakistani doctor who organised vaccine programme in Abbottabad arrested by ISI for working with US agents Basically, US aid groups said they were vaccinating, but were really collecting DNA for the CIA. This seems hugely irresponsible to me (it was so badly organized it was bound to get out, and we might be dealing with the public health fallout for decades). ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/3 "2012-12-27T10:50:57Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Dunno, but if it’s new, it’s likely related to this recent news bit: > > [CIA organised fake vaccination drive to get Osama bin Laden's family DNA | Osama bin Laden | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vaccinations-osama-bin-ladens-dna) > > Basically, US aid groups said they were vaccinating, but were really collecting DNA for the CIA. This seems hugely irresponsible to me (it was so badly organized it was bound to get out, and we might be dealing with the public health fallout for decades). It is not new, and it predates the surfacing of news about Shakil Afridi by at least four years. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/4 "2012-12-27T13:42:27Z")
There was a riot at [Southern Ohio Correctional Facility](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ohio_Correctional_Facility) in 1993 that was partially a response by Muslims to a vaccination program. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/5 "2012-12-27T13:56:13Z")
There have been limited efforts by various religious groups around the world opposing vaccination for centuries: > **[Vaccination and religion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination_and_religion)** > > Vaccination and religion have interrelations of varying kinds. No major religion prohibits vaccinations, and some consider it an obligation because of the potential to save lives. However, some people cite religious adherence as a basis for opting to forego vaccinating themselves or their children. Many such objections are pretextual: in Australia, anti-vaccinationists founded the Church of Conscious Living, a "fake church", leading to religious exemptions being removed in that coun The influen... There have been limited anti-vaccination efforts by various sorts of groups for centuries: > **[Vaccine hesitancy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-vaccinationist)** > > Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using certain vaccines but not others. The scientific consensus that vaccines are generally safe and effective is overwhelming. Vaccine hesitancy often results in disease outbreaks and deaths from vaccine-preventable d "Anti-vaccinationism... ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/6 "2012-12-27T14:13:11Z")
[Muslim fears about vaccination](http://www.irinnews.org/Report/48667/NIGERIA-Muslim-suspicion-of-polio-vaccine-lingers-on) were around long before the ill-advised plan to use DNA collection to find bin Laden. _“Many Muslims in the north (of Nigeria) believe that polio vaccination is being used as a ploy by Western countries to inject people with certain chemicals to reduce their fertility or infect them with HIV/AIDS in order to reduce the population of Muslims.”_ The Taliban is harnessing this long-standing paranoia for its own sick ends. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/7 "2012-12-27T14:20:51Z")
One is tempted to attribute this dark age nonsense only to “extremist” Islam, but it appears to have infected a lot of Muslims who can’t easily be labeled fundamentalists or terrorists. And the [usual antivax suspects](http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2011/01/20/islam-vaccines-and-health-2/) are gleefully leaping on the bandwagon to try to steer Muslims away from immunization. ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/8 "2012-12-27T15:44:28Z")
> [@](#): > > ill-advised plan to use DNA collection to find bin Laden. If it’s stupid, and it works, it can’t have been that stupid. I only wish they had gotten him out of there, or that our politicians had the backbone to stand up against Pakistan’s prosecution of him. And on a personal note, if they want to cut off their nose to spite their face, I say more power to them. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/9 "2012-12-27T15:47:27Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > If it’s stupid, and it works, it can’t have been that stupid. Excessive downside. You don’t jeopardize a program that valuable, even for the sake of catching bin Laden. > [@](#): > > And on a personal note, if they want to cut off their nose to spite their face, I say more power to them. Too many innocent victims/collateral damage. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/10 "2012-12-27T15:55:42Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > … > > Basically, US aid groups said they were vaccinating, but were really collecting DNA for the CIA. This seems hugely irresponsible to me (it was so badly organized it was bound to get out, and **we** might be dealing with the public health fallout for decades). (Emphasis mine) > [@solosam](#): > > … > > And on a personal note, if they want to cut off their nose to spite their face, I say more power to them. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > Excessive downside. You don’t jeopardize a program that valuable, even for the sake of catching bin Laden.Too many innocent victims/collateral damage. “We?” ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/11 "2012-12-27T16:22:20Z")
While it wouldn’t be where it comes from, one thing that probably makes it easier is that clinical medicine does not have a great historical track record in regards to the ethics applied to research in third world countries. Especially in an uneducated (not stupid, just uneducated) population injecting people with something to destroy Islam probably doesn’t seem all that more whackadoodle than intentionally injecting people with cancer and not telling them. And while the latter may have happened 40 years ago and long since stopped, rumor, legend, and conflict would keep them alive in minds. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/12 "2012-12-27T16:32:26Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Excessive downside. You don’t jeopardize a program that valuable, even for the sake of catching bin Laden.Too many innocent victims/collateral damage. Right…remember, we’re not just trying to prevent some people from catching polio, we’re trying to _wipe it off the face of the earth_, [smallpox-style](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox#Eradication). Activities which delay – or even prevent – this effort may, across the vast statistical future, eventually result in many, many more people suffering than bin Laden ever hoped to kill. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/13 "2012-12-27T21:26:44Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > (Emphasis mine) > “We?” Humanity. Polio and other vaccinatable diseases are global problems, and we risked the only chance we have of eradicating them in our lifetime on a stupid “trick” that didn’t even work. Over my lifetime, these diseases will kill way more people than Bin Laden and his cronies could ever have dreamed of. ---
**Author:** ![ed\_anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@ed\_anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed_anger)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/14 "2012-12-27T22:38:11Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > If it’s stupid, and it works, it can’t have been that stupid. > > I only wish they had gotten him out of there, or that our politicians had the backbone to stand up against Pakistan’s prosecution of him. > > And on a personal note, if they want to cut off their nose to spite their face, I say more power to them. If we don’t eradicate smallpox polio etc because of the misuse of the vaccination program, it could potentially spread to the rest of the world, where no one has resistances any longer. So yes, a stupid fucking move by the CIA, and IMHO the people responsible should be charged. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/15 "2012-12-27T22:41:10Z")
> [@ed\_anger](#): > > If we don’t eradicate smallpox etc because of the misuse of the vaccination program, it could potentially spread to the rest of the world, where no one has resistances any longer. So yes, a stupid fucking move by the CIA. I think you mean “polio etc.” as smallpox has been eradicated. It’s a good point though - it is strongly in the interest of developed countries where wild-type polio no longer exists, to eliminate reservoirs of the disease elsewhere. We’re all only a plane ride away from someone with a nasty infectious disease, and in some places herd immunity has been degraded enough by vaccine phobias to allow disease outbreaks to occur even in the face of the majority being vaccinated. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/16 "2012-12-27T22:51:42Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > While it wouldn’t be where it comes from, one thing that probably makes it easier is that clinical medicine does not have a great historical track record in regards to the ethics applied to research in third world countries. > > Especially in an uneducated (not stupid, just uneducated) population injecting people with something to destroy Islam probably doesn’t seem all that more whackadoodle than intentionally injecting people with cancer and not telling them. And while the latter may have happened 40 years ago and long since stopped, rumor, legend, and conflict would keep them alive in minds. Or any more implausible than concluding that vaccines cause autism. Or that western science cooked up the AIDS epidemic to wipe out Africans. Plenty of educated people right here in the west believe that gibberish. Education’s no match for paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/17 "2012-12-28T02:20:15Z")
Yeah… I feel so sad for all those “poor innocent victims” who support the Taliban and have chosen a life of atrocity and bloodshed over peace and harmony. The fact that they continue to tolerate the status quo and harbor the Taliban proves they deserve whatever they get. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/18 "2012-12-28T02:55:26Z")
In Nigeria, at least, Western medicine doesn’t have the same sterling track record it has here. Outside of the more exclusive hospitals, supplies are strictly rationed, essential medicines may be hard to find, expired or expired, and doctors often have limited and outdated medical training. Unsurprisingly, this often leads to inadequate or inappropriate treatment, and it’s not uncommon to die during surgery, suffer grave harm from poorly chosen medication, acquire infections from poorly sterilized equipment, and otherwise end up worse off than you started. And due to conditions, many of the more life-saving functions of a Western hospital just aren’t available. Western medicine is a lot more of a crapshoot, and most families are likely to know someone who has been noticeably harmed by it. It’s often seen as something of a last resort, when nothing else is working. Compounding the problem are black-market antibiotics and the resistances they develop, memories of HIV’s early spread through medical settings, and persistent evidence about how the US is willing to cross ethical lines as part of the “War on Terror.” The US, in particular, is seen as a fairly all-powerful and unpredictable force, with a hard on for Muslims and a tendency to get really erratic when oil is involved. Nigerians in general have no particular reason to be aligned with us, and there is a lot of distrust. Nigeria knows it can easily be steamrollered if we so choose, and it can be a confusing, uncomfortable feeling. Finally, a lot of the BS that “radical Islam” does has been learned from previous headlines, and is for our benefit. Killing and war doesn’t really get our attention, as we think of it as “just another African war.” But vaccination and destroying cultural artifacts really gets under our skin, and for any would-be warlord trying to make a name for themselves and make the international scene, it’s a pretty easy sell. Wanna-be Bin Ladens across the region have learned from us how to do this. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/19 "2012-12-28T02:57:18Z")
> [@ed\_anger](#): > > If we don’t eradicate smallpox polio etc because of the misuse of the vaccination program, it could potentially spread to the rest of the world, where no one has resistances any longer. So yes, a stupid fucking move by the CIA, and IMHO the people responsible should be charged. So my vaccinations from 1998 are toast? [though I really doubt I would ever need the JE, typhoid or yellow fever vaccine, the rabies could have come in slightly useful. Where the hell does one get exposed to Japanese encephalitis?] I got the whole package as it was easier than separating out just the ones I needed so I got all the kiddy stuff, polio, that year’s tetanus booster [I get it on the 8s so I am not due another for a few years unless I do something stupid again] and whichever flu was going around back then. They always look at me like I am nuts going in for vaccine boosters =( ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266/20 "2012-12-28T13:39:43Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > Yeah… I feel so sad for all those “poor innocent victims” who support the Taliban and have chosen a life of atrocity and bloodshed over peace and harmony. The fact that they continue to tolerate the status quo and harbor the Taliban proves they deserve whatever they get. Uh…as stated, this is about eradicating a disease that could affect anyone in the world – even you – not about being soft on terror. Please try to follow along. > [@even\_sven](#): > > Nigerians in general have no particular reason to be aligned with us, and there is a lot of distrust. In a strange parallel, we in the US have learned to distrust Nigerian e-mails. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-fundamentalist-islams-polio-vaccine-paranoia-come-from/645266.md?page=2)