Samoa, a small country with a population of around 200,000 people is facing a devasting measles outbreak. So far, the government announced 4,898 measles cases, with 71 fatalities since the outbreak began in October. To fight the epidemic, the government has introduced compulsory vaccinations which made anti-vaxxers furious. One prominent figure of the notorious movement, Taylor Winterstein, a wife of a well-known Samoan rugby player, has compared the government's actions to Nazi Germany and blamed it for causing the outbreak.
Image credits: samoagovt
According to The World Health Organisation, Somoa's total population's immunity has been estimated to be 30-40%. Over the last couple of years, the country has faced plummeting rates in vaccination.
The sharpest decline happened in 2018 when two Samoan nurses mistakenly administrated muscle relaxants alongside vaccines, which resulted in the deaths of two babies. The incident fueled people's mistrust in vaccines making them vulnerable to anti-vaxxers' agendas.
The first victim of the measles epidemic in Samoa was claimed on October 13 and sadly many others have followed. The government declared a state of emergency and made vaccinations mandatory. This decision sparked a backlash from Taylor Winterstein, who alongside her sister, organizes workshops on the dangers of vaccinations. The woman charges from $200 to $2000 per ticket and attempts to teach people to 'make informed choices'. Recently, the woman compared mandatory vaccination to Nazi Germany in her Instagram account.
"Remember when I said Samoa was TURNING into Nazi Germany?!" she wrote. "If you want to be injected with vaccines, GO AHEAD, inject away but UNDERSTAND there are DISTRESSED PARENTS in Samoa who DO NOT want their children injected with this toxic MMR vaccine and are LITERALLY HIDING in their homes to avoid Govt authorities who are forcing a one-size-fits-all medical procedure...hmmm Sound familiar??" she added.
The woman offered her own explanation for the recent measles outbreak. In her Facebook post, she put the blame on Samoa's government. "The responsibility lies with the Samoan Government and the Ministry of Health who must be held accountable," she said.
"Because...
It is their incompetence in shipping supplies of Vitamin A, the recognised treatment of measles and to be made available to Samoan hospitals as a PRIORITY before shipping over more vaccines.
It is their failure to focus on the particular STRAIN of measles occurring and to disclose whether in fact it is the vaccine that is contributing to the current epidemic.
It is their failure to educate all Samoan people, especially parents, on this childhood infection and how to recognise symptoms, quarantine and treat at home.
It is their failure to give Samoan citizens TRUE INFORMED CONSENT before being forcibly injected with a live virus vaccine.
It is their disregard to nutrition and lifestyle choices for disease prevention, especially amongst children, rather stating that vaccines are the "ONLY CURE".
It is their disregard to building the infrastructure for the benefit of overall public health that could see every village in Samoa have access to clean water and proper sewerage systems - instead of the infrastructure in Apia where monstrous office buildings have been built for the Government.
It is their use of medical fascism to mandate a vaccine on the entire population of a democratic nation without exception and regardless of an individual's health status, that will see Samoans as young as 6 months of age, suffer for 'the greater good'.
It is their lack of foresight to see that malnutrition and Vitamin A deficiency in Samoa, which has been carefully recorded and understood by Samoan authorities for years, were precursors to this disaster and that which has led to the unnecessary loss of lives."
Samoa's Communications Minister Afamasaga Rico Tupai told TVNZ that: "The anti-vaxxers unfortunately have been slowing us down. We've had children who have passed away after coming to the hospital as a last resort and then we find out the anti-vaccine message has got to their families and that's why they've kept these kids at home." He warned the anti-vaxxers: "Don't get in the way, don't contribute to the deaths."
Here's how people reacted
