
While law and order may be a concern there seemed little reason for the health workers to miss children in relatively peaceful areas like Swabi or Mardan. The number of health workers should be increased and a plan drawn up to remove any doubts in the minds of residents who continue to see the vaccine as some kind of western conspiracy to render Muslims impotent (the very ‘argument’ used by Fazlullah). Furthermore, it should be ensured that the vaccine’s cold chain is not disrupted — in that it is transported in a manner that it stays below a certain cold temperature or else it will become a mere placebo. A crucial element for making the drive successful in a country such as ours would be the co-option of the ulema, and to perhaps use mosque sermons to disseminate the message that the vaccine is a powerful deterrent against a life-shattering disease.
Published in the Express Tribune, May 14th, 2010.
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