Religious sects refuse polio vaccination

As Botswana gears up for the second round of its national polio immunisation campaign, some religious groups are refusing to allow their children to be inoculated. The new round of anti-polio vaccinations, targeting 200,000 children under five years of age, will run from 14 to 18 June and is the result of a confirmed case of the disease in Ngami District in northern Botswana last month. The last recorded case of polio occurred 13 years ago. Some members of the Apostle Church of God, which is believed to have close to 50,000 followers across the country, have vowed not to allow health authorities to immunise their children on religious grounds, saying that their members use neither traditional nor modern medicine because they believe illness can only be healed by prayer. Their children are also forbidden to attend school or receive formal education, and are instead taught skills that enable to them to run informal, home-based businesses. Following resistance to the first round of polio vaccination last month, the government applied to the High Court, seeking an order to compel all parents or guardians of children under five to allow authorised health staff to perform the immunisation. In an affidavit submitted to the court by the deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of health, Dr Patson Mazonde, the government argued that there was a need to have all children vaccinated in the interests of national health. The High Court subsequently issued an order giving police the authority to "access any house, vehicle, school or property where it is suspected any children within the specified age group are hidden for purposes of evading or frustrating the National Polio Immunisation Campaign". Any parent or guardian refusing to allow health personnel to immunise a child would be guilty of an offence in terms of the Public Health Regulations, which carries the penalty of a three-month jail sentence or a fine of Pula 500 (US $105), or both. Police have since cracked down on the Apostle Church of God sects, arresting several parents and guardians in towns as well as outlying districts. Most of the arrests took place around the central town of Serowe, parts of the capital city, Gaborone, and Francistown in the northeast. In Serowe, 11 members were arrested, fined and sentenced to three months in jail for refusing to have their children vaccinated. Although some sects in Gaborone have finally complied with the law, the government is still grappling with defiant elements within the church around Francistown, where members have vowed they would "rather go to prison than do what God forbids". Joel Daniels, a prominent sect leader in Francistown, appeared in court with a large number of his faithful last week. He had urged his followers to resist the vaccination programme, charging that it would expose their children to death. "I will never, under any circumstances, have my children immunised because doing so would be exposing them to death. Why should I [have them vaccinated] when my parents never exposed me to this risk? The Holy Spirit has warned members of my church several times that we should not do anything that puts the lives of our children at risk," Daniels said in an address to his followers before the trial. Police Superintendent Mothusi Moitoi said the detained members of the various sects had stated that they would not be persuaded to change their stance as "God has always protected them". But the government has also remained resolute. The church has its origins in Zimbabwe where at least five sects exist. It was founded as a single congregation by a self-proclaimed Zimbabwean priest named Johane Masowe decades ago. Masowe is still revered by all the sects as a visionary and messenger of God, but after his death the congregation squabbled over leadership and scattered to form sects across Southern Africa. Known as the "Jews of Africa" for their entrepreneurship skills, and distinguished by their trademark white silk robes and head-scarves, its members are cross-border traders and allegedly illegal foreign currency dealers in cities across Botswana and Zimbabwe. Central to their religious ideology is the belief that no illness can be treated by the power of modern medicine. They allow only the use of painkillers and antiseptic ointments administered by their own priests.