Even after the death of two children in Malappuram due to non-immunisation, religious organizations continue to be reluctant about vaccinations and does not seem to support it.
Deccan Chronicle reports that Jamaat-e-Islami, the group which has been accused of preventing people from vaccinating their children, said that it does not have a clear cut policy on the issue.
“We are neither for vaccination nor against it. It is an individual choice. There are Jaamat leaders who are for and against it. Even expert physicians say that vaccination has been carried out for the pharma industry. We need deeper debate in the issue,” he told DC.
The report says that many cadres of Jamaat have been conducting campaigns against vaccinations in the villages of Malappuram.
Meanwhile popular social critic M.N. Karasserry has alleged that many Islamist organisations have failed to address the issue of the community in the modern age. He also said that Jamaat is an extremely fundamentalist organization which wants society to go back to the 7th century.
According to official data, 23,912 children under five years of age were kept out of the immunization programme in Malappuram.
