Pakistan Police Arrest Hundreds Of Parents Refusing Kids' Polio Vaccine

Pakistani authorities have conducted their first-ever mass arrest of parents for refusing to allow their children to be vaccinated against polio.

Authorities in Peshawar, in the north-west of the country, detained 471 people and charged them with "endangering public security".

The local government says they will only be freed once they have pledged in writing to vaccinate their children.

In June 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that all international travellers from Pakistan be administered polio drops at airports to prevent its spread.

In 2014, polio cases in the country reached a 14 year high of 306. Nine new cases have been detected so far this year.

www.bbc.com...

abcnews.go.com...

It is also claimed this could this be a conspiracy to sterilize Muslims. I am not sure if these parents are allowed a choice between oral or injected Polio Vaccination but here is the information I found on Polio Drops (oral)

Polio drops - IPOL Vaccine Information

CARCINOGENESIS, MUTAGENESIS, IMPAIRMENT OF FERTILITY
Long-term studies in animals to evaluate carcinogen potential or impairment of fertility have not been conducted.

vaccines.procon.org...

Other concerns could be drug interactions, allergic reactions and side effects.
What are you thoughts ATS?

a reply to: gmoneystunt

If true...welcome to a brave new world where individualism and independent thought no longer exist,you are part of the herd and if you want to sway from the herd prepare to be removed indefinitely...coming to a country near you ....

relevant news

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have suspended two health officials after $3.7 million worth of vaccines donated by UNICEF to protect children from deadly diseases were wasted, officials said Tuesday. The pentavalent vaccines, which protect against five diseases with a single shot, spoiled because they were not stored at the proper temperature, officials said.

“The vaccines were stored on a higher temperature than required.”

www.arabnews.com...

add a possible new concern, spoiled vaccines because they were not stored at the proper temperature

a reply to: gmoneystunt

This just sickens me... especially because apparently part of the backlash is due to Obama and the CIA using a fake vaccination program to kill Bin Laden:

The blowback from the raid may well have extended beyond Pakistan. Health specialists say the suspicion, anger, and violence that some Pakistanis and Taliban militants directed at health care workers after news leaked about the CIA-orchestrated vaccination campaign may have contributed to the spread of polio in Pakistan and war-torn parts of Syria and Iraq.

Today, Afridi is in solitary confinement at Peshawar Central Prison, a fortified red-brick remnant of Britain's colonial rule that is crammed with more than 2,000 inmates, ranging from petty thieves to Taliban assassins.

Source: National Geographic

Here's another read from the New York Times last week:

In Pakistan, where polio has never been eliminated, the C.I.A.’s decision to send a vaccination team into the Bin Laden compound to gather information and DNA samples clearly hurt the national polio drive. The question is: How badly? After the ruse by Dr. Shakil Afridi was revealed by a British newspaper a year ago, angry villagers, especially in the lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border, chased off legitimate vaccinators, accusing them of being spies.

What really breaks my heart is that these parents are literally caught between a rock (government) and a hard place (Taliban):

And then, late last month, Taliban commanders in two districts banned polio vaccination teams, saying they could not operate until the United States ended its drone strikes. One cited Dr. Afridi, who is serving a 33-year sentence imposed by a tribal court, as an example of how the C.I.A. could use the campaign to cover espionage.

Like any parents, I'm sure these parents just want what is best for their kids. This wouldn't be an issue if not for the politics-on-steroids. It's unconscionable.

It doesn't matter, here or there, never follow bad orders. Any bully that creates unlawful and illegal slave type laws and tries to force you to obey, never obey them, and whatever they do, is a massive IOU they owe you spiritually and you'll be over their head deciding what they need to overcome their psychopathy one day. Its too bad that as usual the majority comply with illegal rules and so the few with a conscious can be rounded up, they couldn't do it if the majority or even a good healthy 3rd say NO!

originally posted by: Unity_99
It doesn't matter, here or there, never follow bad orders. Any bully that creates unlawful and illegal slave type laws and tries to force you to obey, never obey them, and whatever they do, is a massive IOU they owe you spiritually and you'll be over their head deciding what they need to overcome their psychopathy one day. Its too bad that as usual the majority comply with illegal rules and so the few with a conscious can be rounded up, they couldn't do it if the majority or even a good healthy 3rd say NO!

Illegal rules? Do you think putting kids at risk of a deadly disease is a good idea? Shall we go back to the middle ages when no one had heard of vaccines and people died horribly at a young age? Or, shall we all work together and make sure no kids die from diseases which have been all but arradicated around the world? And yes, that means making sure your little ones are vaccinated.
Believe it or not, not EVERYTHING the governments do is evil. Some rules are for the common good. By not getting these kids vaccinated, they are putting themselves and others at risk. This is unnaceptable. And i totally agree with the prison sentence.

By the way, im in no way excusing what the CIA did. But thats a side note. The crux is, kids are at risk, others are at risk..People need to be responsible.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: gmoneystunt

If true...welcome to a brave new world where individualism and independent thought no longer exist,you are part of the herd and if you want to sway from the herd prepare to be removed indefinitely...coming to a country near you ....

Would you prefer a "brave new world" where polio and other diseases are rampant and killing kids? What a nice guy!

a reply to: gmoneystunt

Such massive ignorance of basic medical science in these threads about vaccination.

You can thank those who were vaccinated (millions upon millions of people who all lived happy, healthy, longer lives than billions of people before them) for you not having to face the threat of thousands of perfectly preventable diseases and viruses.

If you people had your way with your irrational fears and paranoias, we would probably be dead from diseases we could have wiped out decades ago within ten years.

Lets get this straight, shall we?
There is NO EVIDENCE to support any conspiracy about vaccinations, none.
There are hundreds of thousands of people working hard to create vaccines for hundreds of deadly diseases, and you think they're all "in on it"?
Without vaccination of kids and a good % of the public, these viruses will continue to kill millions of people, and continue to evolve to eventually become far more deadly to far more people.

It's bizarre to see such ignorance here from people who write doom porn about pandemics wiping out the Human race, while also spreading complete nonsense and propaganda about vaccinations. It's almost as if these people are actively trying to bring about the deaths of millions of people.

If there is any conspiracy here, it's one led by the ignorant against the poor people most at risk of dying from an easily preventable disease.

The only thing that I can criticize about this report is that the governments in these places have failed to properly educate their populations about the risks and the benefits. If people actually knew the truth, they would be lining up to have their kids vaccinated.

originally posted by: Rocker2013
a reply to: gmoneystunt

It's bizarre to see such ignorance here from people who write doom porn about pandemics wiping out the Human race, while also spreading complete nonsense and propaganda about vaccinations. It's almost as if these people are actively trying to bring about the deaths of millions of people.

If there is any conspiracy here, it's one led by the ignorant against the poor people most at risk of dying from an easily preventable disease.

The only thing that I can criticize about this report is that the governments in these places have failed to properly educate their populations about the risks and the benefits. If people actually knew the truth, they would be lining up to have their kids vaccinated.

I dont think its bizarre at all...there is SO much scientific ignorance/mistrust on ATS, its frightening. But honestly, how anyone can be against mandatory vaccinations for kids for things like Polio is beyond me. To me, it goes further than a mistrust of government...it reaches a level of ignorance that is really quite shocking.

When will we realize we are all the same excluding our rotten governments?
Pakistani parents put their pants on one leg at a time and don't trust their corporate
overlords anymore than we do. Would a distrusted worldwide corptopcracy
purposefully put out a mean strain of Polio just to make an example of those
who don't trust big Pharma ?
Nah...

originally posted by: UnderKingsPeak

When will we realize we are all the same excluding our rotten governments?
Pakistani parents put their pants on one leg at a time and don't trust their corporate
overlords anymore than we do. Would a distrusted worldwide corptopcracy
purposefully put out a mean strain of Polio just to make an example of those
who don't trust big Pharma ?
Nah...

"Pakistani parents put their pants on one leg at a time and don't trust their corporate
overlords anymore than we do"

Totally meaningless sentence.

I dont know how you guys function with som much distrust in heads....it must be exhausting.

Why dont they just make it illegal for these people to travel out of their own country if they dont want to vaccinate.
ploio is a sickening disease.

a reply to: 3danimator2014

Ah yeah your right.....we should not question anything we should just do what we are told when we are told.....a brave new world of mindless drones

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: 3danimator2014

Ah yeah your right.....we should not question anything we should just do what we are told when we are told.....a brave new world of mindless drones

Funny...i dont Remember saying that. I would never suggest we blindly follow orders. But getting your kids vaccinated for diseases like polio isn't really up discussion in my opinion. There is no excuse for putting kids and others lives in potential risk in this case.

So i ask again. What is the life expectancy in your utopia where people are free to not get basic vaccines for kids?

You say " brave new world" in a mocking and sarcastic way...but life expectancy is going up. People are living longer than ever. ..maybe, just maybe the governments and scientists and doctors are right and vaccination is the right path.

Crazy i know.

a reply to: gmoneystunt
Good. Pakistan is one of the last two or three countries where polio is endemic, and they're involved in, if not outright causing, outbreaks in Afghanistan. (Not that exporting nasty little plagues to Afghanistan is a new line of business for them, mind.) If they can catch up with the rest of the world in this, and if the lines of transmission have been stopped in Afghanistan and Nigeria, polio will be eradicated. It will take a few years to transition from the OPV to IPV, but once that it is done, polio will be one of those strange grandpa diseases kids read about in history class, like smallpox.

WPV cases 2010 - 3 March 2015

Pakistan has been the worst country every year but one. Maybe they look better per capita, but the absolute numbers are the worst in the world.