Amy Goodman
@DemocracyNow·3.2M subscribers·19.4K videos
Did CIA's Fake Polio Vaccination Program in Pakistan Help Fuel a Global Health Emergency?
Posted
May 12, 2014
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9:26Now PlayingThe World Health Organization has designated the spread of polio in Asia, Africa and the Middle East a global public health emergency requiring a coordinated "international response." Three countries pose the greatest risk of further spreading the paralyzing virusPakistan, Cameroon and Syria. In an unusual step, the W.H.O. recommended all residents of those countries, of all ages, to be vaccinated before traveling abroad. The organization also said another seven countries Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria and Somalia should "encourage" all their wouldbe travelers to get vaccinated. Until recently, polio had been nearly eradicated thanks to a 25year campaign that vaccinated billions of children. In Pakistan, the increase in polio is being linked to a secret CIA ploy used in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. With the help of a Pakistani doctor, the CIA set up a fake vaccination campaign in the city of Abbottabad in an effort to get DNA from the bin Laden family. The Taliban subsequently announced a ban on immunization efforts and launched a string of deadly attacks on medical workers. We are joined by two guestsRafia Zakaria, a columnist for DAWN, Pakistan's largest English newspaper, who has been covering the rise of polio in Pakistan since the bin Laden raid; and one of Pakistan's leading polio experts, Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta.
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