Indonesia: May 31, 2005

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Islamic conservatives are urging parents to refuse polio vaccinations for their children. So far, 14 cases of polio have appeared, all traced back to a breakout in Nigeria (where the cause was also Islamic conservatives halting vaccinations because of paranoid rumors that the medicine was a Western attempt to sterilize Moslem children.) The government is putting pressure on conservative Islamic leaders to stop preaching against the vaccination program, which is directed at over six million kids. Islamic radicals are preaching against other vaccinations as well, causing something of an "Islamic Plague" among the growing number of unvaccinated children.