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ISLAMABAD – Two gunmen on motorbikes killed a polio vaccinator in southwest Pakistan's city of Chaman on Thursday, bringing the total number of dead among vaccinators working in the country's anti-polio campaign to three. indicated officials.
The shooters opened fire on a group of vaccinators while they were standing in front of the door of a house in the remote village of Sultan Zai, near the Afghan border, said Samiullah Agha, deputy commissioner of Shaman.
Two members of the vaccination team were affected: Nasreen Bibi, 35, was killed and Rashida Afzal, 24, was seriously injured, Agha said in an interview. Vaccination was suspended indefinitely in the Chaman area after the shooting.
"The gunmen fled after the attack," said Agha. "Security forces have launched a search operation in the region."
The polio vaccination teams have been the victims of several attacks since the beginning of the vaccination campaign in the country on 23 April. Workers, volunteers and their caretakers of poliomyelitis are frequently targeted in the country of South Asia. Islamist and hard-core activists say the vaccination campaign is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children and cover up Western spies.
"These are unfortunate incidents," said Babar Atta, the Pakistani prime minister's special advisor on polio. "We have strengthened the safety of vaccination teams across the country and are determined to end this disabling disease in Pakistan."
Hayat Khan, a resident of a tribal border region of Afghanistan who runs a store, said he was skeptical about the polio vaccine. Neither he nor his parents took the vaccine, which can be administered orally in drops, and they lead a healthy life, he said.
"We have doubts about this Western vaccine," he said. "The tribesmen do not know exactly what they give to our children and what information they collect to spy on them. It's a Western program, indeed. "
Two days ago, during separate protests, two police officers protecting polio vaccination teams were shot dead in Buner and Bannu districts in the north of the country. And a polio worker was injured in a knife attack this week in Lahore, in the east of the country.
Sitara Ayaz, a senator, said the officials were "humiliating Pakistan internationally."
"We should be worried about the killing of polio workers, because that adds to the increased global pressure on us," said Ayaz, a member of the Awami national secular party. "It is now imperative to introduce a comprehensive policy or legislation to get rid of the crippling disease related to polio in the country.
Recently, the government launched information campaigns on the subject and urged Muslim clergy to inform the public that the vaccine protects children against a disease that can lead to paralysis or death.
A global effort to eradicate the disease has made Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria the only country that has not stopped the transmission of the polio virus, according to the World Health Organization. .
The number of polio cases in Pakistan has risen to eight this year following the discovery of two new cases this week, according to the website End Polio Pakistan, which shows the country's efforts to eliminate polio.
The number of cases of the disease in the country has increased from 58 in 2012 to 12 in 2018, according to End Polio Pakistan. According to an independent media count, 95 polio workers have been killed in the line of duty since 2012.
This is despite the fact that vaccination efforts in Pakistan have often been the subject of suspicion and unfounded rumors suggesting that vaccines harm children.
A man, Nazar Gul, suspected of conspiring against the polio vaccination campaign, was arrested this month after a video showing that Gul had urged students to faint after the vaccination.
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