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June 02, 2003
INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS
Polio Drive Fails to Cover 12 Percent of
Infants
In India, Bihar commissioner for health
education Afzal Amanullah said that Bihar missed 12 percent of its newborn
babies during last year's pulse polio drive. According to Amanullah, a
perception that the vaccination makes male babies impotent has led to some
parents hiding their male children when the house-to-house vaccination teams
come around. He added that so far this year there have only been eight cases of
polio, with none detected since March, thanks to various programs including
rallies and pamphlets. Maria Calivis, UNICEF's representative to India, also
noted that the June 1 pulse polio drive, which will last for five days and
involve some 30,000 door-to-door teams and 5,000 static teams, must be
successful if India is to eradicate polio.
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"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"