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Samoa have arrested a campaign against vaccination, as the country continues to grapple with a deadly outbreak of measles.

Edwin Tamasese accused of incitement to public order after he was arrested on Thursday.

The outbreak, which since October have killed at least 63 people, mostly young children, in part charged that people are spreading false information claiming that vaccines are dangerous.

Samoa declared a state of emergency and made vaccinations mandatory.

Measles is a highly infectious disease that causes cough, rash and fever.

Despite the fact that effective and safe vaccination runs out, even in some developed countries in recent years there has been a revival, because of unfounded concerns about vaccine safety began to spread, often in social networks.

Who was arrested?

Mr. Tamasese spoke out against vaccines on Facebook, instead of encouraging the use of inefficient remedies, such as extract of papaya leaves for the treatment of the deadly disease.

Before his arrest he described the government program of mass vaccination as “the greatest crime against our people,” and falsely claimed that vitamin C can cure infected children.

Authorities warn that children are at particular risk of the disease

Low vaccination rates in Samoa is partly due to mortality in 2018, two children, mistakenly associated with vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella.

However, their death was due to the fact that nurses mix the vaccine with a muscle relaxant instead of water, and not with the vaccine.

These cases, however, have raised concerns of local residents and has been used by people, seeking about the evidence that vaccines are harmful.

‘Not stay on the way’

The current crisis in Samoa also caused many foreign fighters against vaccination, which are weighed and criticized the country’s commitment to the immunization of their children, trying to raise the level of measles coverage to more than 90%.

Samoa’s Communications Minister Afamasaga Rico Tupai said anti-vaccination activists – also known as “anti-vaxxers” – are spreading conspiracy theories which were hindering the unprecedented public health mobilisation.

“Antivax, unfortunately, slow us down, – he told in interview to TV channel TVN.

“We had children who died after coming to hospital as a last resort, and then we will know the anti-vaccine message was in their family, and that is why they kept those kids home.”

He cautioned fighters against vaccination: “don’t state way, not contribute to the deaths”.

Media captionIt”s a numbers game… if some people are not vaccinated, it can cause a big problem for all of us

His words were supported by the representative of Unicef in the Pacific region Dr. Sheldon Yett, who has told Bi-bi-si in the beginning of this month that “people who spread lies and misinformation about vaccination kills children.”

“The best way to ensure the safety of children – to make sure they are vaccinated. Prevention vaccination and the submission of false information is killing children. It’s clear – the evidence speaks for itself”.

Vaccination is not the only way, with this method, Samoa is trying to put an end to the outbreak. Earlier this week, unvaccinated families are asked to hang a red flag outside their homes, while all schools were closed and children under 17 years are prohibited from participating in public meetings.