Polio vaccines—“no thank you!” barriers to polio eradication in Northern Nigeria

This article is an analysis of the boycott of the polio vaccination campaign in northern Nigeria, which has indefinitely stalled global polio eradication targets. The polio immunization drive was brought to a standstill in July 2003 as religious and political leaders in northern Nigeria responded to fears that the vaccines were deliberately contaminated with anti-fertility agents and the HIV virus. The article explores the political and cultural angles of this controversy, revealing deeper dimensions that have contributed to the rejection of polio vaccines in northern Nigeria. In doing so, it argues that there is an underlying logic to public anxieties often dismissed as 'anti-vaccination rumours'. Although the polio vaccine boycott has proved costly in both economic and human terms, it has opened important lines of communication at global and national levels, potentially deepening dialogue, participation and sensitivity necessary for global health campaigns. Although immunization comes with countless benefits, it is a complex and difficult health strategy to enforce. Decisions on broader health as well as immunization goals are often made at a global level to be incorporated and adapted into national health plans and budgets. Evidently for immunization campaigns, the journey from the global to the local is a vulnerable and unpredictable one.