Nigeria turns away Polio Vaccine

More dark news from Africa from the Christian Science Monitor bq. Kano is the center of the world's worst outbreak of the disease, but its government refuses to participate in an international inoculation program, claiming that the vaccines are contaminated. bq. Both sides are keen to play down the political and religious aspects of the dispute, but some of the strongest opposition to the vaccination campaign has come from Islamic leaders who say the alleged contamination is part of a Western plot to make Muslims infertile. The resulting deadlock highlights an isolationist tendency in parts of the ruling northern elite. bq. "Anything where it would mean joining the international community, they don't want it at all," says a Kano-based imam from western Nigeria who asks not to be named. "This is not a new thing for them; they have been doing it a long time. All the vaccines are contaminated -- yeah. I see a big bio-lab checking the vials as they come in... Welcome to the 9th century my friend. Nasty brutish and short. And the Imams themselves? You know, the ones with the computers and cell phones and shopping trips to Switzerland for the wives? They refused the vaccine as well? Don't think so...