[ad_1]
SAMOA’S STREETS are dumb. The only places that are very busy are hospitals across the country, where frightened families queue up for vaccinations. A measles epidemic has so far caused 4,000 infections and 60 deaths in a country of 200,000 people. The government has declared a state of emergency, closed all schools and banned private vehicles from the roads. People were told to stay at home and hang red clothing in front of them to indicate the presence of unvaccinated residents. Mobile vaccination units are touring the country as part of a mandatory mass vaccination campaign.
Measles has spread so quickly in Samoa because only a small proportion of children have been vaccinated. The World Health Organization estimates that only 31% of infants received the vaccine in 2018, up from 90% in 2013. Mistrust of the health care system was fueled by the deaths of two babies last year who had mistakenly received a muscle relaxant at the same time as the vaccine. In response, the government suspended measles vaccinations. Anti-Vax activists have spread false rumors that hospitals are using defective or expired vaccines and, as in other countries, have repeated the denied claim that vaccination is linked to autism.
Although the nurses responsible for the botched vaccinations were tried and imprisoned, many Samoans remained suspicious. Some have responded to the epidemic by praying instead of asking for a vaccination or treatment, or by administering traditional remedies, such as oiling the red-stained skin, which is a symptom of the disease.
These responses prompted the government to make vaccination compulsory. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi called on village councils, faith-based organizations and religious leaders, among others, to persuade the resistance fighters. Authorities say 65,000 people have been vaccinated in recent days and the government aims to increase the rate to 90% within 48 hours.
The crisis offers clear proof of the dangers of anti-vax propaganda. Although the epidemic probably originated in New Zealand, where many Samoans live, and has spread to neighboring Fiji, none of these countries has suffered an epidemic almost as severe as vaccination rates are much higher . Fiji also teaches a lesson on how measles can be deadly. In 1875, an epidemic killed a quarter of the population.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the title “Red Alert”
[ad_2]
