Measles outbreak in Minnesota Somali community;
Muslim parents refuse to vaccinate children,
by Ann Corcoran, 4/20/17
This article at Mic Daily makes it
sound like it is all about a fear that vaccines cause autism in vaccinated children.
However not mentioned is the Islamic prohibition on the use of vaccines.
Here is the story at Mic Network Inc. Golly gee, why can’t we get our message heard, say
health officials. Minnesota’s Hennepin County is in the midst of the state’s
largest measles outbreak since 2011. Nine cases have been reported since last
week, and officials expect the number to rise.
So far, all of the cases are among unvaccinated children. They have
something else in common too: The affected children are all part of Minneapolis
and St. Paul’s Somali-American community.
According to a health department official, Minnesota’s Somali immigrant
community has been a particular target of the anti-vaccination movement,
colloquially known as “anti-vaxxers.”
“They’re very much engaged with and
targeting this community,” Kris Ehresmann, infectious disease division director
at the Minnesota Health Department, said in a phone call Wednesday.
According to Ehresmann, anti-vaccine
groups began to target the Somali community around 2008, amid concerns about
autism among Somali-American children. Anti-vaccine groups started reaching out
to the Somali community and showing up at community health meetings, she said,
disseminating misinformation linking autism to the measles, mumps and rubella
vaccine, or MMR.
Since then, the population has seen
a “steady decline in MMR vaccine rates.” She [Dr. Diane Madlon-Kay, a practicing
physician who has studied the low vaccine rates among Minnesota’s Somali
community] and other doctors who serve that population have had little luck
dispelling myths about autism and vaccines that travel quickly though the
community via word-of-mouth, she said. “We don’t seem to be making any headway with
that at all,” Madlon-Kay said.
Despite countless studies indicating
there’s no connection between vaccines and autism, Madlon-Kay doesn’t have much
hope that science will change the minds of scared parents within the Somali
community anytime soon.
What about Islam? Not a word in the story about Islam
and vaccines which is likely the bigger reason why health officials can’t
educate the Somalis. In only a few minutes search, here is one of many
articles about “religious” prohibitions in Islam.
Islam and Medical Science
Must Oppose Vaccination. The case against vaccination is first an Islamic one, based on Islamic
ethos regarding the perfection of the natural human body’s immune defense
system, empowered by great and prophetic guidance to avoid most infections. The case against vaccination is also a medical and
health-related one. Incredible evidence, unbeknownst to most, has emerged in
the West regarding the many serious health hazards that affect those who have
been vaccinated.
For inquisitive minds, we have
hundreds of articles about refugees and health issues (including mental health
issues) in our ‘Health Issues’ category, here. Measles is not the worst illness you will find
there.
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