Africa-Press – Malawi. The quasi-religious body, Public Affairs Committee (PAC) has asked government to swiftly act on reports of some children being denied polio vaccine based on religious doctrines, calling the situation a ‘death trap’.
PAC Spokesperson, Bishop Gilford Matonga, told Malawi News Agency (MANA) in interview on Wednesday that there is no harm for government to intervene with force and protect children who are at risk of being exposed to avoidable deformities for life by parental decisions.
“PAC strongly condemns, in strongest terms, any religious grouping, sect of some faithful denying children to be vaccinated. This is very unfortunate and we will not accept it to thrive. Polio is a killer and it can deform the children.
“We appeal to government to take a strong stand against anyone denying children the vaccine. It must come in to protect its citizens because the future of this country is in these children who are being exposed to such hazards by faith,” he said.
Matonga said religious sects and other communities must not deliberately twist the interpretation of the holy books and start blocking others from accessing health services.
“We have 195 health facilities and 11 training colleges under the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM) across the country to complement government efforts on health issues. If taking medicine was wrong, how would we have these religious originated health facilities?” he asked.
PAC was reacting to the facts that some Zion Christian followers in Salima under Traditional Authority (TA) Ndindi are shunning the vaccine which government rolled out on Monday.
In an interview with Health Surveillance Assistant (HSA) for Ndindi catchment area, Lidson Chikhwethe, under Mchoka Health Centre in the district said the 1,719 target, may hit a snag following resistance from Zion Church members who are denying taking any medicine.
“This is the second day since we rolled out vaccine. Although we are able to meet our daily target of 150 children, worries have engulfed HSAs because on the onset two families of Zion Church have already blocked their children to access the vaccine on religious grounds,” he said.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson, Adrian Chikumbe, said the mass vaccination campaign has rolled out successfully in all the 28 districts across the country.
“So far we have not received any technical challenge since we rolled out the national polio vaccine on Monday 21st March, 2022. We are hopeful that government will reach the 2.9million national target.
“We are working towards addressing human resources gaps with speed. We were expected to have 15,000 HSAs but we have only 10,000. We are sure that very soon we will close this 5,000 shortfall existing due to bureaucratic systems, otherwise donors are ready to support,” he said.
Polio is a highly transmissible virus most often spread via the stool of an infected person usually through contaminated water or food. It can also be spread via oral or nasal secretions and mainly affects children under five.
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