World must fight anti-vaccine drive, says Women in Science winner from Bangladesh

Misinformation campaigns result in “vaccine hesitancy,” which leads to outbreaks of otherwise preventable diseases. (AP)
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Updated 18 February 2020
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World must fight anti-vaccine drive, says Women in Science winner from Bangladesh

  • In different countries, misinformation campaigns have different shapes and consequences

DHAKA: People around the world need to fight against misinformation campaigns that hamper vaccination efforts, Bangladeshi immunologist Dr. Firdausi Qadri told Arab News in an exclusive interview, as her efforts were honored during the 22nd edition of the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards last week.

“In many countries — not only in developing countries, in developed ones too — there is a new sentiment that vaccination will cause some diseases in children,” Qadri said at her office at the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh in Dhaka.

These misinformation campaigns result in “vaccine hesitancy,” which leads to outbreaks of otherwise preventable diseases.

The 22nd L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards recognized five female scientists from different regions of the world in the field of life sciences.

Qadri’s award is for her outstanding work to understand and prevent infectious diseases affecting children in developing countries and promote early diagnosis and vaccination.

“Before launching any vaccine, we do trials in different phases to detect their adverse effects, if there are any. Even after the vaccine is launched, we monitor its impacts,” she said, stressing that raising awareness on the importance of immunization is essential and should be directed by governments.

In different countries, misinformation campaigns have different shapes and consequences. In developed nations, they can lead to outbreaks of diseases such as measles and mumps, which the World Health Organization identified as one of the top 10 global health threats in 2019.

In countries like Pakistan, vaccine hesitancy in certain areas is related to cultural norms. “Sometimes doctors are not allowed into homes because they are males,” Qadri said. “There are only few countries in the world which are not polio-free, Pakistan is one of them … many people in Pakistan are not very aware about the benefits of vaccinations.”  

In Bangladesh, which is also a developing country, immunization awareness is much higher, but self-sufficiency is still lacking and can affect the country’s efforts to eradicate diseases such as cholera.

“We need to concentrate on cholera vaccines. According to the national cholera control plan, we will require almost 180 million doses of oral cholera vaccine in the next five years to eliminate it. Nobody can give us that vaccine if it’s not produced locally,” she said.

While Bangladesh has obtained the cholera vaccine license and is expected to start producing it soon, Bangladeshi scientists have no equipment to develop the country’s biological preparations.

“When we want to do very high-quality research, the problem is not lack of knowledge but of equipment and reagents which must arrive in the right condition. Their cold chain must be maintained and they need to come quickly,” Qadri said.  

“When people don’t have the facilities, they don’t feel the urge to do good research,” she said, explaining that scientific culture needs to be promoted and financially supported in developing countries.

Qadri has dedicated her award to 500 young researchers who work with her, hoping that the recognition will encourage more Bangladeshi women to choose scientific careers.

“It sets an example for women. We are lacking in the field of science, technology, electronics and mathematics. There is a gender imbalance. I hope with my achievement, the situation will improve to some extent,” she said.

The award, she added, will also people make realize that research is being done in Bangladesh.

Regarding her ongoing research, Qadri explained she is working on the problem of malnourishment in immunization effectiveness.

Malnourished children react differently to vaccines. “They don’t respond like a child in a developed country like in the UK, US or Sweden.

“The burden of pathogens in our system is so high and there are so many infections one after another, which gives rise to enteropathy, making it difficult for a child to respond to a vaccine properly,” she explained.

She is working on it. “Children should grow up to be healthy adults,” the mother of three said, revealing what guides her work and efforts.


Mississippi executes the longest-serving man on the state’s death row for 1976 killing

Updated 26 June 2025
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Mississippi executes the longest-serving man on the state’s death row for 1976 killing

  • Jordan was one of several on the state’s death row who sued the state over its three-drug execution protocol, claiming it is inhumane

PARCHMAN, Mississippi: The longest-serving man on Mississippi’s death row was executed Wednesday, nearly five decades after he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer’s wife in a violent ransom scheme.
Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, was put to death by lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. The time of death was 6:16 p.m.
Jordan was one of several on the state’s death row who sued the state over its three-drug execution protocol, claiming it is inhumane.
The execution was the third in the state in the last 10 years; previously the most recent one was carried out in December 2022.
Jordan’s execution came a day after a man was put to death in Florida, in what is shaping up to be a year with the most executions since 2015.
Jordan, whose final appeals were denied without comment Wednesday afternoon by the US Supreme Court, was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing and kidnapping Edwina Marter.
Mississippi Supreme Court records show that in January of that year, Jordan called the Gulf National Bank in Gulfport and asked to speak with a loan officer. After he was told that Charles Marter could speak to him, he hung up. He then looked up the Marters’ home address in a telephone book and kidnapped Edwina Marter.
According to court records, Jordan took her to a forest and fatally shot her before calling her husband, claiming she was safe and demanding $25,000.
Edwina Marter’s husband and two sons had not planned to attend the execution. Eric Marter, who was 11 when his mother was killed, said beforehand that other family members would attend.
“It should have happened a long time ago,” Eric Marter told The Associated Press before the execution. “I’m not really interested in giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
“He needs to be punished,” Marter said.
As of the beginning of the year, Jordan was one of 22 people sentenced in the 1970s who were still on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
His execution ended a decades-long court process that included four trials and numerous appeals. On Monday the Supreme Court rejected a petition that argued he was denied due process rights.
“He was never given what for a long time the law has entitled him to, which is a mental health professional that is independent of the prosecution and can assist his defense,” said lawyer Krissy Nobile, director of Mississippi’s Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, who represented Jordan. “Because of that his jury never got to hear about his Vietnam experiences.”
A recent petition asking Gov. Tate Reeves for clemency echoed Nobile’s claim. It said Jordan suffered severe PTSD after serving three back-to-back tours, which could have been a factor in his crime.
“His war service, his war trauma, was considered not relevant in his murder trial,” said Franklin Rosenblatt, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, who wrote the petition on Jordan’s behalf. “We just know so much more than we did 10 years ago, and certainly during Vietnam, about the effect of war trauma on the brain and how that affects ongoing behaviors.”
Marter said he does not buy that argument: “I know what he did. He wanted money, and he couldn’t take her with him. And he — so he did what he did.”


Ukraine, European rights body sign accord for tribunal on Russian aggression

Updated 26 June 2025
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Ukraine, European rights body sign accord for tribunal on Russian aggression

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset signed the accord in the French city of Strasbourg at the Council’s headquarters

Ukraine and the Council of Europe human rights body signed an agreement on Wednesday forming the basis for a special tribunal intended to bring to justice senior Russian officials for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset signed the accord in the French city of Strasbourg at the Council’s headquarters.
“This is truly a very important step. Every war criminal must know there will be justice and that includes Russia. We are now boosting the legal work in a serious way,” Zelensky told the ceremony.
“There is still a long road ahead. Today’s agreement is just the beginning. We must take real steps to make it work. It will take strong political and legal cooperation to make sure every Russian war criminal faces justice, including (President Vladimir) Putin.”
Ukraine has demanded the creation of such a body since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, accusing Russian troops of committing thousands of war crimes. It is also intent on prosecuting Russians for orchestrating the invasion.
The 46-member Council of Europe, set up after World War Two to uphold human rights and the rule of law, approved the tribunal in May, saying it was intended to be complementary to the International Criminal Court and fill legal gaps in prosecutions.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant against Putin, accusing him of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.


US military to create two new border zones, officials say

Updated 26 June 2025
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US military to create two new border zones, officials say

  • A new “National Defense Area” will be created covering about 250 miles (402 km) of the Rio Grande river in Texas

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon will create two new military zones along the border with Mexico, US officials said on Wednesday, a move that allows troops to temporarily detain migrants or trespassers. President Donald Trump’s administration has hailed its actions along the border, including the deployment of active duty troops, as the reason for a sharp decline in crossings by undocumented migrants. Trump made voters’ concerns about immigration a cornerstone of his 2024 re-election bid.
The Pentagon has already created two military zones, but only four people have been temporarily detained on them, a US official said.
A new “National Defense Area” will be created covering about 250 miles (402 km) of the Rio Grande river in Texas and administered as a part of Joint Base San Antonio, according to the Air Force.
The US officials said the other military zone would be administered as a part of Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona.
The zones are intended to allow the Trump administration to use troops to detain migrants without invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act that empowers a president to deploy the US military to suppress events such as civil disorder.
As legal deterrents to border crossers, the zones have had mixed results. Federal magistrate judges in New Mexico and Texas dismissed trespassing charges against dozens of migrants caught in the areas on grounds they did not know they were in a restricted military zone.
However, some 120 migrants pleaded guilty to trespassing in the first Texas zone in May and federal prosecutors obtained their first two trespassing convictions for the New Mexico zone on June 18, according to US Attorneys’ Offices in the two states.
Around 11,900 troops are currently on the border.
Illegal border crossings fell to a record low in March after the Biden administration shut down asylum claims in 2024 and Mexico tightened immigration controls.


Palestinian student sues Michigan school over teacher’s reaction to her refusal to stand for Pledge

Updated 26 June 2025
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Palestinian student sues Michigan school over teacher’s reaction to her refusal to stand for Pledge

  • Danielle “suffered extensive emotional and social injuries,” including nightmares, stress and strained friendships, the lawsuit says

DETROIT: The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of a 14-year-old student who said a teacher humiliated her for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in protest of US support of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Danielle Khalaf’s teacher told her, “Since you live in this country and enjoy its freedom, if you don’t like it, you should go back to your country,” according to the lawsuit.
Danielle, whose family is of Palestinian descent, declined to recite the Pledge over three days in January.
“We can only marvel at the conviction and incredible courage it took for her to follow her conscience and her heart,” ACLU attorney Mark Fancher said.
The lawsuit says her teacher admonished her and told her she was being disrespectful.
As a result, Danielle “suffered extensive emotional and social injuries,” including nightmares, stress and strained friendships, the lawsuit says.
The ACLU and the Arab American Civil Rights League said Danielle’s First Amendment rights were violated, and the lawsuit seeks a financial award.
“It was traumatizing, it hurt and I know she could do that to other people,” Danielle said at a news conference in February, referring to the teacher’s treatment.
At that time, the school district said it had taken “appropriate action,” though it didn’t elaborate.
“Discrimination in any form is not tolerated by Plymouth-Canton Community Schools and is taken very seriously,” the district said.
The school district declined Wednesday to comment further, citing the litigation.
Michigan has more than 300,000 residents of Middle Eastern or North African descent, second in the US behind California, according to the Census Bureau.


Suspect in US fire attack on Jewish protest faces new hate crime charges

Updated 26 June 2025
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Suspect in US fire attack on Jewish protest faces new hate crime charges

  • Alongside the newly announced federal charges, Soliman faces 28 attempted murder charges

LOS ANGELES, United States: The suspect in a Molotov cocktail attack on a march by Jewish protesters in Colorado will face an additional 12 charges for carrying out a hate crime, the US Justice Department said Wednesday.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national, already faces over 100 criminal counts for allegedly throwing firebombs and spraying burning gasoline at a group of people who gathered on June 1 in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
President Donald Trump cited the attack, which injured 15 people, to justify his decision to ban travel from 12 countries to the United States to “protect” the nation from “foreign terrorists.”
Authorities have said Soliman, 45, was in the United States illegally at the time of the incident as he had overstayed his tourist visa.
Alongside the newly announced federal charges, Soliman faces 28 attempted murder charges as well as a bevvy of other counts relating to his alleged use of violence.
He also faces a count of animal cruelty for a dog that was hurt.
Police who rushed to the scene of the attack found 16 unused Molotov cocktails and a backpack weed sprayer containing gasoline that investigators say Soliman had intended to use as a makeshift flamethrower.
In bystander videos, the attacker can be heard screaming “End Zionists!” and “Killers!“
It came less than two weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, where a 31-year-old suspect, who shouted “Free Palestine,” was arrested.