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Polio Vaccine in the Crossfire of Misinformation

As scientists around the world rush to find a vaccine to curb Covid-19's spread, another deadly disease, polio, has become the latest focus of online disinformation campaigns. 

On 25 August, the World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the declaration that Africa had eradicated wild poliovirus — a milestone in decades — a long-standing battle against debilitating disease, reports AFP.

However, a variant of the disease known as vaccine-derived polio still exists, which occurs in rare cases when the weakened virus in the vaccine mutates.

It especially affects countries with low immunization rates and poor sanitation, say health experts.

Two days after the WHO announcement, the UN reported that more than a dozen cases of vaccine-derived polio had occurred in nine countries around Sudan.

The outbreak also fueled the already prevalent spread of conspiracy theories calling for false statements about vaccination on social media.

– ‘Gates-funded vaccine’ –

Conspiracy Theory Groups immediately announced the outbreak in articles condemning "one of the greatest public health scandals of the decade," citing WHO and billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates in their attacks.

A misleading report that blames the "Gates-funded vaccine" for "causing" the outbreak has been posted more than 8,000 times in Facebook groups from the US and Canada to Colombia.

The arguments have also been circulated in Europe, with the French version of the article being exchanged between different groups in France and Belgium.

However, the report does not note that the cases involved individuals who had not been immunized themselves.

Gates, whose eponymous foundation has ploughed billions of dollars to make vaccines against diseases such as polio, malaria and HIV, is a frequent target for fringe groups who accuse him of benefiting from or even using vaccines for harm.

In the spring, Facebook posts spread tens of thousands of false allegations that a polio vaccine tested by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has paralyzed 490,000 children in India.

And last month, a viral YouTube video said the philanthropist wanted to forcibly vaccinate and depopulate Africa.

Gates, who has pledged $250 million in efforts to fight the Covid-19 crisis, has pushed back against rumours, blaming “a bad combination of pandemic and social media and people looking for a very simple explanation”.

– Lack of immunisation –

According to the WHO, 1,271 people around the world have caught polio-derived vaccines in the last decade.

The disease generally spreads when the weakened vaccine virus is excreted by a vaccinated person and then picked up by others through polluted water or food.

Oliver Rosenbauer, spokesman for the WHO’s polio eradication scheme, told AFP Fact Check that while contamination could in fact “passively immunise other kids”, it can have devastating consequences in countries with low immunisation rates.

“The problem arises when you have a community which is very poorly vaccinated, because this virus is allowed to continue to spread, to find susceptible unvaccinated children,” he said.

“Over time, it can actually revert to a strain that is a strong strain, no longer a weak strain.”

According to the WHO, people are safe from both vaccine-derived and wild polioviruses if the population is "fully immunised."

The UN Health Agency has warned of a surge in vaccine-derived polio cases in recent years. More than 360 cases were registered in 2019, compared with 104 in 2018 and 96 in 2017.

Sixteen countries around the continent are currently experiencing outbreaks, with the novel coronavirus preventing several vaccination campaigns.

But the new vaccine "can not genetically mutate" is on the cards, said Richard Mihigo, WHO Program Area Manager for Immunization and Vaccine Production in Africa.

This novel oral polio vaccine (nOPV), which is “more genetically stable” and “cannot genetically mutate”, is set to be introduced from the end of the month, he said.

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