Sixty-two children in Samoa have died from measles. After a mass-vaccination campaign, authorities are hopeful the spread of the highly-contagious virus has been contained, but remain on edge. How did it come to this?
Businesses were ordered to close and all citizens placed under a curfew to allow mobile vaccination teams to go door-to-door.
Fast and efficient, the teams vaccinated approximately 40,000 people, around 20 per cent of Samoa's entire population. "I pray that everyone will have this injection done so that this can be eliminated, this virus, from us."Some of the nurses reported seeing people run away as mobile vaccination teams neared.
After the two deaths last year from incorrectly administered vaccines, there has been a new audience for anti-vaccination campaigners. "It is imperative … to strengthen the culture of acceptance of vaccination in order to create herd immunity.The United Nations' resident coordinator in Samoa, Simona Marinescu, had a similar take.
"Scepticism regarding the safety of the vaccine and the expanding atmosphere of doubt around vaccination — even in the most advanced countries — are among the underlying causes of the dramatic expansion of the disease," said Ms Marinescu.Churches are the central pillar of community life in Samoa, a deeply religious nation.
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