Locals believe it is a deliberate sabotage of innocent people’s lives

Maungdaw — A measles vaccine program conducted by the Myanmar health department in northern Maungdaw resulted in one Rohingya child suffering excruciating deaths and other five children in critical conditions, according to the reliable sources in the region.

In collaboration with the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP), the Health Department gave the tainted vaccines to many children at the ‘Maggyi Chaung’ hamlet of Quarter 4, ‘Khamauk Seik’ Township, northern Maungdaw, on December 23.

Six children began to suffer from excruciating spasms of muscles as the consequence of the measles vaccines according to a local report. However, how the vaccine has caused the deterioration of the children’s conditions is unidentified/unexplained yet.

One of the children who is confirmed dead at around 10 am on December 25 is ‘Yaasin s/o Badi Alam.’

Other five children feared to have been dead in the hospital by now are:
1) Jannat Ara Begum d/o Shafi Alam
2) Khawsar Ara Begum d/o Shafi Alam
3) Najimullah s/o Kamal Hussein
4) A son of Zahid and Samuda Khatun
5) A son of Gura Meah and Rabia Khatun

The Border Guard Police (BGP) have earlier announced that the vaccination is compulsory for all the Rohingyas in Maungdaw and Buthidaung.

“The BGP has announced that the vaccination is mandatory for every child and later adult too. They threatened that if we refrain from vaccinations, we will be arrested, fined and imprisoned. They have seized ‘the household registration lists’ from some families and would return them only when the families get vaccinated.

“And they said this was to prevent diseases from spreading. But hearing the deaths of the children in Maungdaw after the vaccinations, we are afraid it could be an attempt by the government to deliberately sobotage many of our lives,” said a worried Rohingya elder, Buthidaung in speaking to Rohingya Vision TV on the condition of anonymity.

The vaccination program is increasingly triggering panic among the locals across Maungdaw and Buthidaung after the incidents in northern Maungdaw region as they are seeing it as a new genocidal depopulation program being implemented by the Myanmar government. Some people are even requesting the International Community to help them find out antidotes for the vaccine which they call ‘Poison Injection.’