Blowback

Remember how U.S. intelligence used a physician who was running an immunization campaign as a covert agent, in an attempt to determine if a high value target was living in Pakistan?

Well, this is why aid workers, and others, were so upset about it. There has been great progress toward the goal of polio eradication. Widespread belief that immunization campaigns could be used as a cover for espionage now threatens to stall progress in one of the few countries where polio still has a foothold.

Comments

  1. Maryn McKenna has been covering this on her Superbug blog in case others are interested.

    Her post from May:
    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/05/pakistan-polio-fake-cia/

    And last July:
    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/07/wtf-fake-vaccination/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Eli, I should have linked to her July 2011 post, which I believe was selected for inclusion in a "best science writing on the web" anthology. I posted on this issue again today because of the NY Times piece describing probable cancellation of this week's campaign to reach another 160K unvaccinated children in Pakistan.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very cool, glad she is getting recognition for her excellent writing. I just posted in case someone is seeing this for the first time. Super sad really.

    ReplyDelete

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