Annex II: The Failed Attack on Polio NIDs, Kinshasa

- from Combatting Antivaccination Rumours: Lessons Learned from Case Studies in East Africa

In August 2001, just before the start of Round 2 of the polio campaigns of that year, thousands of handbills were circulated on the streets of Kinshasa. Excerpts follow at the end of this text.

The remarkable thing about this handbill blitz against the polio NIDs was that it failed completely. The absence of effect during Round 2 of the Kinshasa polio campaign is clearly evident from a comparison of figures: Round 2 registered a 2 percent increase in vaccinations over Round 1 (unpublished data, UNICEF/Kinshasa).

The lesson to be drawn from the Kinshasa experience is that the public is not always gullible. The most strident and incredible claims do not necessarily get a hearing. In such cases, the best reaction is not to overreact.

Vaccines attack the immune system and provoke a reaction from this system. Every vaccination carries a risk of causing the disease, and hence of death. The child must be in good health for the immune system to react well to the vaccine. Thus, one does not vaccinate sick children, those with coughs, and especially not the malnourished, since the immune system depends directly on good nutrition.

Nonetheless, the World Health Organization (WHO), contrary to all medical principles, decides to vaccinate the children of the Congo.

Vaccines Truly Useful?

Here are the views of Neil Miller, journalist and specialist in natural medicine:

• Many vaccines were not the real reason behind the decline in disease occurrence. This came more from nutritional and sanitation improvements.
• No vaccines confer real immunity. It is often the opposite which is the case: the vaccine increases the chances of catching the disease
• All vaccines can cause side effects, including brain damage and death.
• Long term effects of all vaccines are unknown.
• Many vaccines are especially dangerous.

Does W.H.O. Care for the Health of Congolese Children?

WHO has decided to eradicate poliovirus from the earth by 2005. WHO never stated that the vaccination campaign was good for the children of the Congo. WHO says that it is urgent so that the Congo does not infect other countries. WHO decides to vaccinate during war, with a maximum of risks for the population. WHO lacks even the compassion to wait for the war's end and the children to be healthy before vaccinating. There is no epidemic declared in the Congo. The last epidemic in the region dates from April 1999 in Angola.

What Does W.H.O. Have to do for the Benefit of the Congolese?

The Congolese are dying of such diseases as kwashiorkor, which are easily treated. Why vaccinate against polio instead of curing the real killer diseases? Today, the priority of the Congolese children is not vaccination of any kind. It is first of all and especially to control the malnutrition caused by the war of the multinationals and the pro-American invaders of the Congo.

Vaccination Campaigns Cause Epidemics

A vaccination campaign against polio caused an epidemic in the Dominican Republic. The vaccine contains the virus. The child, once vaccinated, keeps the virus in the throat for two weeks, and in its intestines for up to two months. The vaccinated child is contagious for two months. So the vaccine can cause the epidemic. Contagion is riskier in situations of war and poverty, which make hygiene more difficult.

What are the Risks of this Campaign?

A child has few risks of catching polio if there is no vaccination campaign. Every child vaccinated runs the risk of catching polio. Every vaccinated child runs the risk of transmitting the disease to other children. If the vaccination campaign takes place, unvaccinated children risk getting the polio from those who are vaccinated. A total, 100 percent vaccination places all children in danger. A partial vaccination also places all children in danger. The only acceptable option is no vaccination campaign.

Can we Believe in the Sudden Compassion of the West for the Congolese People?

The West created the war, feeds the war and profits from the pillage of the Congo. The children are the main victims of this war. In some regions, three children out of four do not reach their second birthday. To decimate a population, one must first kill the children. Why vaccinate against polio, since they do not die of polio. Why is there no effective humanitarian aid? Why does the West not apply the recommendations of the report on the illegal exploitation of the Congo's riches in order to stop the war?

Why Pass in Silence Over the Genocide of the Congolese?

Polio vaccines have already been contaminated:

Poisoned vaccines have already killed children in South Kivu. Polio vaccine has long contained carcinogenic viruses. Another vaccine contains leukaemia viruses. Oral polio vaccine is controversial. A great specialist, Dr John Martin of the University of Southern California, has demanded in vain an investigation of this vaccine.

WHO announces that it will no longer use this vaccine after this vaccination campaign in the Congo because it has a better option. The American citizens have demanded a parliamentary investigation of vaccines in October 1999. Do Congolese scientists analyse the vaccines before giving them to children?

Who Decides?

Vaccines = WHO = UN = USA = Uganda –Rwanda-Burundi = war. The UN has done nothing to stop the war (though it knows how to stop it) and has also decided on the polio vaccination campaign.