A JUDGE in Mali has jailed five leaders of a Muslim sect for preventing children in the village of Tandio being vaccinated against polio. The men said it was up to God to give or withhold disease, and in March reportedly threatened to kill health workers. Judge Sidiki Sandogo imposed sentences of between six months and three years for “rebellion against public authorities”.
In northern Nigeria, rumours that the oral polio vaccine was a western plot to spread HIV and infertility caused Muslim elders to block vaccination there in 2003, leading to the outbreak that has now re-infected 16 countries,…
