Polio Vaccinators Face Deadly Risks In Pakistan
Polio Drops A child gets polio drops during a vaccination campaign in Nepal. Adam Bjork, CDC In regions where polio is endemic, anti-vaccination views are tied to politics. Here's another twist on "vaccine safety." Over the past year, Pakistani villagers have been shooting healthcare workers that came to give them the polio vaccine. Foreign Policy has the exact numbers. Up to 22 workers may have been killed-one of the incidences was a roadside bomb, so it might have just happened to catch vaccinators-while 14 others have been bombed, taken for ransom, tortured, or otherwise injured. The violence likely stems from the Pakistani Taliban's opposition to vaccination, Foreign Policy reports. Taliban leaders have a variety of reasons they're suspicious of the polio vaccine. They think vaccinators could be spies for the U.S. military--more on this later--or that they could be part of a plot to sterilize Muslims. Last year, Pakistani Taliban groups questioned why...