I value the efforts of people such as Fatima to combat the rumor that the oral polio vaccine (OPV) would sterilize children. However, this rumor has been spread for almost 30 years and it is unlikely that all the efforts of people working on vaccine communication, including myself, will one day be successful.
Since the 1990s, National Immunization Days (NIDs) of mass vaccination with OPV to eradicate polio have spurred this rumor in some parts of the world. How can people deprived of basic health care understand such efforts, especially for a disease they often do not know, while other diseases have high morbidity and mortality rates? Facing vaccine refusal, the organizers of the eradication campaign have multiplied the NIDs, without reaching a sufficient vaccine coverage because of this refusal, while simultaneously fueling it. As some have argued, NIDs should be discontinued and the efforts to vaccinate against polio should be concentrated on the Expanded Program on Immunization, which is trusted by a very large majority of the people, in the same areas.
Seytre B., Vaccine Refusal: A Major, Underestimated Obstacle for the Poliomyelitis Eradication Initiative.
Hirschhorn, Norbert et al., Polio eradication: 25 years overdue, US$25 billion overrun
Bernard Seytre
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HIFA profile: Bernard Seytre is a Consultant at BNSCommunication in France. Professional interests: Health communication and education. seytre AT bnscom.fr