Three More Un Vaccine Makers Killed in Pakistan

BY ZACH TOOMBS Insurgents continue to target United Nations polio vaccine makers in Pakistan, with nine dead in just the last three days. Al Jazeera has the details. “This time, gunmen shot and killed the polio vaccination supervisor and her driver … In nearby Peshawar, a student volunteer died from the wounds she sustained in an earlier gun attack. That brings Wednesday’s death toll to three.” No group has claimed responsibility for attacks, but the Taliban has repeatedly condemned efforts of international organizations, including the United Nations, to set up vaccination drives. Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan are the last three nations where polio is endemic. [Video: BBC] The Taliban’s suspicions stem from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s successful operation in 2011, using a fake Hepatitis B vaccination drive as a way to test blood samples from children around Osama bin Laden’s compound. The BBC reports the latest killings have forced the U.N. to suspend vaccinations temporarily, though the organization and the Pakistani government have pledged to continue their efforts until the disease is entirely eradicated. Canada’s CBC says the consequences of abandoning the cause could be tragic. “Doctors are very worried that, having had decades of success in eradicating it from one country to another, there will be some kind of resurgence if they don’t maintain these eradication efforts and keep immunizing people.” U.N. vaccination efforts have been effective in neighboring India, where, according to The Guardian, a drive with more than a million volunteers reduced polio cases from 741 in 2009 to just one case last year.