This week, another child become the ninth victim in Yala to die from measles since the outbreak began in the deep South in June, and which has quickly spread since then.
This child and the other eight lives could have been saved because the disease is preventable by vaccination, which is accessible to all in Thailand. But a false belief preached by local Islamic teachers has spread among local Muslim communities for years that the vaccine is not permissible under Islamic teaching because it is derived from pigs.
As a result, a large number of Muslim parents in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat have not had their young children immunised against the disease. The measles vaccine is given in two shots -- the first between the age of nine to 12 months and the second at two and a half years.
