When vaccines first arrived, they were a blessing to the public and one of the greatest achievements of medicine. We have forgotten how horrible the diseases are that can be prevented nowadays. When a vaccine first became available, people widely and enthusiastically accept it, even despite side effects the vaccine might cause. The best example of this is a national enthusiasm in the USA after developing the polio vaccine in the 1950s. People saw children dying or living with deformities, and this could now be prevented, by vaccination. In this first period, there is a wide acceptance of the vaccine and people are relieved that finally they don’t have to worry about a deadly children’s disease.
As time goes by people start to forget the threat, a memory of the victims and social disruptions of the disease fades. Instead with the increased use of a vaccine, the focus is on real and imaginary side effects of vaccination. As vaccination becomes common, suddenly in the place of fear for the decease, fear for the real or the imaginary side effects takes its place. And events that occur around the time of administration of a vaccine (in the first 12 months of life an infant receives vaccines every 2 months on average) may seem to be a cause-and-effect relationship. This causes a vaccine to be accused of causing seizures, diabetes mellitus, SIDS, mental retardation, ADHD, autism, MS and many other diseases. Parents start feeling threatened by the vaccine. Instead of knowing people suffering or dying from the disease many parents now know somebody who was “hurt by a vaccine”. This is the time when a vaccine becomes a victim of its own success and the vaccination coverage reaches a plateau. When incidents start to rise again, the adoption becomes better, but we never reach the irradiation of the decease, which would eventually lead to the abolishment of vaccination. Parents have postponed or rejected vaccination, and as long as the coverage of the full population is high enough, the ones that are unprotected are save, but when parents “an mass” start to reject the vaccination, the deceases that were forgotten return.
source is reference 2
What happens when the vaccination coverage starts declining rapidly, can be seen in Malesia, Egypt Nigeria, Pakistan. The increase of vaccine preventable deceases is on a steep rise since 2014, leading to for instance thousands of measles cases, and hundreds of deaths. Why is this especially in Muslim majority countries?
In the last 5 years there has been a lot of FUD about vaccines on the internet scaring Muslim populations. One of the biggest lies on the internet was that vaccines that were used in majority Muslim based countries, where poisoned to kill Muslim children. That it was a plot of the Western countries to bring deceases to the Muslim world via their children.
In addition to this, there was a famous singer stated on the internet “ Allah is powerful, and vaccines have no power” The celebrity has an enormous following and influence over his followers, which is a normal phenomenon on social media.
The statement of this famous singer is actually against what most Muslim believe, or what is seen as the law. In the Book of medicine, it is said that Allah send for every decease a cure and that you should treat yourself medically.
The last hurdle is that many Muslims believe that vaccines have pig particles and are not allowed to be used. Again, this is a misconception. The highest fatwa council has ruled that the “unlawful” particles are insignificant and that the threat is much greater than the risks, and necessity overrules prohibition. The councils have tried to educate on vaccination, and it is also being explained by doctors to persuade parents that refuse, but often without prevail. The numbers keep on dropping, education is being offered, but this is distrusted, and only when a population starts seeing the devastation of the decease again will the adaptation start to rise.
The first cases of polio and measles outbreaks are already reported in the USA again, and now it’s “only hundreds of cases and about 10 infants dying, not enough to convince parents, that love their children and feel threatened to vaccinate, to vaccinate their children. Only when coverage drops below a critical mass and thousands of children will get the disease and hundreds will die again, because make no mistake, this is what will happen also in non-Muslim majority countries, only then adaptations will rise again.
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