If there really were a law of unintended consequences, it would be considered in full force in Pakistan, right now, as a CIA-sponsored anti-hepatitis drive, which it was revealed publicly was a ploy to try to collect DNA samples from the Bin Ladens, has ignited a backlash about public vaccinations, with serious implications for a recent three-day polio vaccine campaign. Already beset by militancy, a massive migrant population and a general aversion to vaccines, CIA involvement in the anti-hepatitis vaccinations have raised suspicions even further. The pressures on the public health program in Pakistan are many, not least of which is the potential perception of health workers as CIA agents, making them targets of militants. Extremist clerics in the region also preach against vaccinations as somehow anti-Islamic. Despite the CIA blunder and the uninformed campaign against vaccinations, knowledge and reason must win out, lest Pakistan continue to be forced to fight diseases that much of the world has already conquered. In the past, the Pakistan government has managed to dispel much of the false information about vaccines, but it still fights an uphill battle. As in other parts of the world, the more information the populace has, the more likely it is to make the right decision. Pakistan is one of four countries where polio is endemic – along with India, Afghanistan and Nigeria – but it is the only one in which cases are on the rise: in 2007, 40 cases were reported; in 2010, 144 cases were reported; and 59 have been reported already this year. Everyone on all sides of the political spectrum in Pakistan must come together on this very simple question of public health. A lack of information when it comes to fighting a new disease is understandable. But polio has been with us for a long time. It has been studied extensively, and it is well-understood. Willful ignorance is no excuse for condemning young Pakistanis to bouts with a debilitating disease when eradication is possible. __
