Mass Vaccinations in Haiti

by Heidi Stevenson

2 March 2010

The squalid conditions of refugee camps combined with the oncoming rains threaten Haiti's earthquake victims with diseases common to poor sanitation, lack of safe drinking water, and contaminated food. Cholera, typhus, and dysentery are the best known. So what are the big relief agencies doing about it? They're trotting out mass vaccinations for measles, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough.

UNICEF and the World Health Organization are leading the way with an "emergency" program to vaccinate as many Haitians as possible. The World Health Organization (WHO) is the same agency that brought you the fake swine flu pandemic to sell ineffective vaccines for Big Pharma. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is implementing the project with help from the Red Cross.

Haitians are in desperate need of clean water, food, and decent shelter. People have given millions of dollars to provide those necessities. Instead, some of that money is going to vaccinations.

UNICEF spokesperson, Kate Donovan, said, "The time is critical in this kind of thing because if you start to get an outbreak then it can spread very quickly in the unhygienic conditions that exist in Haiti. Children are 100 percent vulnerable because many children are malnourished so their natural resistance to any disease is really reduced." Perhaps she should look at her own words. Those children need food and clean water, not vaccines.

Claims are made that the crowded conditions of people in refugee camps justify the vaccine campaign because it results in rapid transmission of disease. Those people, though, were living in overly-crowded conditions before the quake. Crowded conditions are a major factor in transmission of the diseases of real concern.

Cholera bacteria and dysentery amoeba are spread in conditions of poor sanitation. They're virtually nonexistent otherwise. These are the primary diseases that Haitians need to fear—yet, mass money is being spent to vaccinate against other diseases, and corporate media picks up the story without blinking an eye.

As people starve, while their water supplies remain polluted, and the rains start while most are without shelter, the Haitians are asked to stick out their arms for vaccine jabs that will do nothing to protect against the deadly diseases they face on top of starvation and thirst. How many meals could have been provided with that money? How much water could have been made potable? How many latrines could have been dug by the people now administering vaccinations? How many tents could have been bought?

Even more revealing is that this mass vaccination program was part of the initial plan. In a document entitled "Public health risk assessment and interventions, Earthquake: Haiti" (PDF), the WHO issued its priorities for Haiti in January, shortly after the quake hit. The first "immediate priority" of the health sector was defined as access to surgical, medical, and emergency obstetric care. The next item was:

Priority immunizations, including mass vaccination campaign for measles/rubella, and tetanus immunization as part of wound care

"Support for appropriate infant and young child feeding and malnutrition management" was two steps below that.

The WHO listed "Provision of sufficient and safe water, and sanitation." as a non-health sector task. Health workers are not supposed to be bothered with the most primary health needs!

Should I ever find myself in the midst of a disaster, please tell the WHO to stay away. Twisted priorities like that make them dangerous to the people they're supposed to be supporting.

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