Why Terrorists in Pakistan are Hunting Down Vaccinators

Terrorists have been hunting down polio vaccinators in Pakistan. The country recently launched a campaign aimed at immunizing 45 million children over the age of 5. Terrorists bombed a vaccination site, injuring 23, including children. Vans transporting polio staff have been targeted. Are these anti-vax conspiracy theorists? Violence in no form is tolerable, but there is a reason that vaccinators are being hunted down, and it stems back to the early 2010s when the CIA used a vaccination program to mask an espionage program.

The CIA was desperate to find Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks, as he embarrassed the intelligence agency by evading them for years and taunting them with videos seemingly filmed from caves. When the CIA had a lead that he was hiding out in Pakistan, they launched a fraudulent vaccination program to take down the al-Qaida leader.

Then-trusted Pakistani doctor Shakil Afrid partnered with the US intelligence agency to launch a hepatitis B vaccination program in Abbottabad, Pakistan. They began the program in a poverty-stricken town to make the guise seem believable before moving to the compound where they believed Osama bin Laden was hiding.

The true goal of the program was to obtain DNA samples from children who may be within bin Laden’s lineage. Some children received polio drops, but it is unknown if others were actually vaccinated against hepatitis B. The CIA has never revealed whether they found any matching DNA samples from the children they targeted.

The Taliban immediately banned vaccinations when the plot was revealed, which is only one of the reasons both Pakistan and Afghanistan still suffer from a polio crisis today. Dr. Afridi was convicted of treason and sentenced to 23 years imprisonment. The CIA received international backlash, leading to former -CIA Director John Brennan issuing an order that forbid the use of vaccination programs in covert operations. Brennan swore that the CIA “will not seek to obtain or exploit DNA or other genetic material acquired through such programs.”

Can we trust the government and/or intelligence agencies with our DNA or vaccinations? This was not the first time that the CIA has used health services to mask espionage. Pakistan and Afghanistan are now the only two nations in the world facing a polio-endemic. There is often truth behind conspiracies.