In what can only be termed a welcome move, the CIA has announced that it will no longer use vaccination programmes as a cover for intelligence gathering and spying missions. This is a step in the right direction because of the complete mess the CIA made in the Osama bin Laden capture when it used a polio vaccination programme as an undercover operation with the aid of local doctor Shakil Afridi. When news leaked of how the vaccination programme was used and that it was not even a real healthcare project, all hell broke loose on the nation’s efforts to curb the spread of the menacing poliovirus. The tribal areas, where the disease is now rife, became a breeding ground of suspicion and militant propaganda. Taliban militants raised a hue and cry, letting it be known to all residents of the tribal areas that polio vaccines were part of a grand western conspiracy to make Muslim men impotent and to accelerate the spread of polio. This led to the largely illiterate population refusing to be administered any polio vaccinations. This was coupled with the frequent murders of polio healthcare workers by the Taliban militants all over the country, especially in the tribal regions. It is these ghastly target killings of healthcare workers that have led to the CIA announcing an end to vaccine programmes that serve a dual purpose. This realisation could not have come sooner. The rise in Pakistan’s polio nightmare truly began in the aftermath of the bin Laden capture, an opportunity fully availed by the Taliban. FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are a hotbed of the poliovirus where most of the country’s 66 new polio cases this year have originated. It is these staggering numbers in a world that is largely polio-free that have caused the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the international community to place harsh travel curbs on Pakistan, resulting in added hassle for Pakistanis who wish to travel abroad. The Nawaz Sharif government has also enforced a vaccination requirement for all those travelling out of FATA to other parts of the country to help eliminate the virus. All this has happened in large part due to the deliberate misuse of vaccination drives by the CIA. So many of our unfortunate polio cases could have been prevented if the intelligence agency had not resorted to such measures. The militants would have had no ground to accuse the healthcare workers of being foreign agents and more children would have been vaccinated. Now that this announcement by the CIA has been made, it is hoped the people of the country will wake up to the fact that the vaccines are real and our polio problem is reaching dangerous levels. The need of the day is to have every child in the country immunised — without fear of imaginary drawbacks. -*