North Nigerian state again rejects polio vaccine

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2004

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — The government of the northern Nigerian state of Kano again rejected an oral polio vaccine, a spokesman said, despite a decision by the country's federal administration to throw its weight behind a UN-led inoculation drive.

A spokesman for Kano, the region at the heart of the world's fastest growing outbreak of the crippling polio virus, said that the state's governor and traditional Islamic leader had met with local experts to review evidence gathered about the UN vaccine and concluded that it was laced with anti-fertility agents.

"All the results studied proved contamination of the vaccine, therefore all the stakeholders agreed with the government not to allow polio vaccination in Kano until we can procure uncontaminated vaccines for our...