In Indonesia, Rumors Imperil Anti-Polio Bid

Hipgrave stressed that the vaccine was safe, even for children who are sick. The four youngsters who died were among the 2,000 children who die every day in Indonesia from dengue, malaria and other ailments, he added.

But now, on the eve of the country's first nationwide vaccination drive, U.N. officials acknowledge that their message has been drowned out by the negative reports on television and in newspapers.

The dramatic decline in vaccinations two months ago, coupled with the spreading outbreak, sounded alarms at the far-off headquarters of U.N. agencies. Last week, WHO sent David L. Heymann, the chief of its global polio eradication program, to Jakarta to secure senior government officials' support for next week's vaccination drive.

Heymann said he was particularly troubled by the spread of the disease to Sumatra, which was battered by the Dec. 26 tsunami. If the virus reaches the western end of the island, where the health care system was destroyed, containment could prove almost impossible, he said. The eradication effort would also become more daunting if polio spread to densely populated Jakarta.

Heymann added that the arrival of the rainy season next month could accelerate the transmission of the disease, which is spread through contaminated water, as streets flood and children play in the mud.

Winning public support now is crucial, he said: "What we don't want to see is rumors get out of control and stop progress like in Nigeria."

The strain of polio now circulating in Indonesia originated in northern Nigeria, where the overwhelmingly Muslim population turned against vaccinators after rumors spread that immunization was a Western plot to weaken Islam by causing sterility or AIDS.

But in Indonesia, the resistance has no religious overtones. In fact, the country's most popular Muslim televangelist, Abdullah Gymnastiar, has been enlisted to publicize next week's drive. The Indonesian Council of Ulemas, or Muslim scholars, has issued a fatwa , or edict, endorsing the vaccine.

Some of the deepest skepticism is in Depok, the sprawling town south of Jakarta where more than a fifth of the children vaccinated in May were kept home a month later. Last week, medical officers called together three dozen volunteers, all middle-age women wearing conservative Muslim head scarves, to rally them for the drive.

"Why did so many parents keep their children home last time?" asked Deksiana Farida, the stout, dark-haired woman in charge of immunization at the local clinic.

" Takut! " the women answered in unison from the rows of plastic chairs. "Afraid!"

"Do not be fooled by the parents," Farida continued, speaking into a microphone over the whir of a single ceiling fan. "You have to be smart about this. You have to make them come to the clinic."

Health workers in Depok have recruited respected community figures, in particular Muslim clerics who run Koran reading groups for women, to preach the virtues of vaccination. But Komora Mingsih, 52, one of the volunteers, lamented it might be too late to save this drive.

"I don't think it will succeed," she added, out of earshot of the other volunteers. "Most likely, people are still afraid."

Special correspondent Yayu Yuniar contributed to this report.