From the dome of Parliament to seminars.. Al-Houthi continues to demonize vaccines
English - Tuesday 07 March 2023 الساعة 02:34 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, exclusive:
The Yemeni health authorities, in cooperation with the World Health Organization and UNICEF, launched a massive immunization campaign against polio in various liberated Yemeni governorates, at a time when the Houthi militia, Iran's arm, continues to implement counter-campaigns to prevent vaccinations from being taken in areas under its control.
The government campaign aims to vaccinate 1,290,000 children under the age of five in 12 governorates. The campaign will last for 3 days, with the participation of more than 10,000 health personnel distributed in fixed centers and mobile vaccination teams that will visit citizens' homes to reach the largest number of children.
During the inauguration of the vaccination campaign in the capital, Aden, UNICEF Deputy Resident Representative in Yemen, Shadrack Omol, confirmed that 227 cases of polio have been recorded in Yemen since November 2021, explaining that these infections could have been prevented if vaccines had been taken.
He pointed out that the current campaign seeks to spare more new cases, adding: "As we continue our fight against polio, we need to redouble our efforts to strengthen the primary health care system, through which routine vaccination is provided, among other life-saving services."
For his part, Yemeni Minister of Health Qasim Buhaibeh called on parents to push their children to take reinforcement doses against this dangerous disease, which has spread again after Yemen was free from this disease that threatens society. He added, "The polio virus has penetrated a number of governorates, blaming the Houthi militia for that."
Buhaibeh explained in a tweet on his Twitter account: "At a time when the polio virus derived from the vaccine is penetrating into Yemen, especially in the northern governorates, Houthi leaders are rushing to launch a campaign against vaccines under official sponsorship."
According to data from the Yemeni Ministry of Health, medical teams recorded 228 cases of the type 2 mutated virus during the past year and before in 19 Yemeni governorates, including 160 cases during the past year, led by Dhamar Governorate with 31 cases, followed by Sana'a Governorate with 25 cases. The governorates of Al-Hodeidah and Ibb came third, with 19 injuries.
In his turn, the director of the World Health Organization office in Aden, Mahmoud Dhaher, confirmed that confirmed cases of poliovirus have been recorded in several Yemeni governorates, and that these numbers are very frightening. added. Taking these vaccines is important, and it is the safety of the vaccine that went through many trials before the necessary licenses for its use were issued.
The campaign coincides with the resurgence of the viral epidemic in areas controlled by the Houthi militia, which is leading organized and counter-incitement campaigns against immunization campaigns and vaccinations under flimsy justifications, that it is a global conspiracy and that it is Israeli and American vaccines aimed at killing the Yemeni people.
During the past period, the Houthi militia has intensified its anti-vaccine activities against incurable diseases, including polio, measles and diphtheria, as the Ministry of Health in Sana'a has held seminars and events to promote misleading and false ideas about vaccines in order to convince citizens not to take vaccinations, which they describe as a disaster and a threat to the lives and future of their children.
The last of these events was a symposium dedicated by the Houthi militia to members of the House of Representatives under their control. The symposium focused on providing false and false information about vaccines and their dangers, according to the speakers. However, a number of council members left the council hall as soon as the presentation of the session appeared.
Parliamentarian Ahmed Saif Hashed said that the members of the House of Representatives in Sana'a left the parliament hall as soon as they saw that the offer presented to them was a symposium against immunization and vaccines. Adding that the symposium aims to impose backwardness. Without giving more details.
The militias base their information on statements by their terrorist leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, who said, "The vaccines come from America, which sells unsafe medicines and vaccines that cause serious health symptoms and spreads them among societies to destroy them and kill their children."
Holding a symposium under the dome of the House of Representatives is an affirmation of Houthi's insistence and incitement against immunization campaigns, and the commission of a heinous crime against the children of Yemen. Where reports and statistics showed catastrophic numbers for anti-vaccine campaigns by monitoring hundreds of cases of infection and deaths due to the return of chronic and fatal diseases.
And the counter-Houthi campaigns came after it also acknowledged the spread of many deadly epidemics and diseases in the areas under its control. The Ministry of Health recorded about 3,000 cases of “upper, lower and acute” respiratory diseases, of which 329 died. In addition to one million and 150 thousand and 614 cases of watery diarrhea, of which 46 died, and 47 thousand and 550 cases of chronic diarrhea, while the number of suspected cholera cases reached 14 thousand and 508 cases, of which 8 died, and the number of typhoid cases reached 196 thousand and 287 cases, of which one died. One case, and measles 18,597 cases, of which 131 died.
On polio, the Houthi report said that the number of infected cases amounted to 226, malaria, 1,136,360 cases, of which 19 died, dengue 28, in addition to 1,157 cases, of which 37 died, and the number of cases of hepatitis B. And C" 20 thousand and 248 cases, of which two died, and viral hepatitis "A and E" 14 thousand and 39 cases, and diphtheria one thousand and 105 cases, of which 76 died.
