- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Chandrashekar Bhat
A FAKE vaccination drive the CIA conducted to seek out Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan has led to a drop in immunization rates by almost two-fifths in areas where political extremists find strong tractions, according to findings in the Journal of the European Economic Association.
The CIA rolled out a fake hepatitis B vaccination programme using Dr Shakil Afridi to collect DNA samples from children at a compound where Bin Laden was suspected to be hiding in Abbottabad. The calculation was that if the DNA mapping showed bin Laden was the father of the children, it would confirm his hideout at the place.
While his subsequent killing by US special forces kicked up a furore in Pakistan military and public, the Taliban and other extremist outfits used the ruse of the American intelligence agency to further their campaign against vaccinations.
The issue has come under renewed focus as the country has seen vaccine hesitancy relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, blamed on conspiracy theorists.
According to researchers, the resistance to vaccination campaigns in Pakistan remains strong, amplified by conspiracy theories the immunisation drives as Western attempts to “sterilise” Muslims in the country.
