Mending ways: White House vows CIA won’t stage more fake vaccine campaigns
Pakistani health official welcomes statement; says it is a ‘positive sign’.
President Barack Obama’s top White House anti-terrorism advisor Lisa Monaco told deans of 13 US schools of public health that CIA chief John Brennan had directed last year that agents would “make no operational use of vaccination programs.” PHOTO: FILE
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD:
As Pakistan suffers a resurgence of polio, a top White House official pledged in a letter that intelligence agencies would foreswear the tactic, which is partly blamed for the spread of the crippling disease.
In the letter dated May 16, the White House has promised the United States will not use vaccination programmes as cover for spy operations – after the move was attempted during the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Conservative groups are reluctant to participate in vaccination programmes after Dr Shakil Afridi helped the CIA track down the al Qaeda chief through a fake vaccine project in Abbottabad.
President Barack Obama’s top White House anti-terrorism advisor Lisa Monaco told deans of 13 US schools of public health that CIA chief John Brennan had directed last year that agents would “make no operational use of vaccination programs.”
“Similarly, the agency will not seek to obtain or exploit DNA or other genetic material acquired through such programs,” he said. “This CIA policy applies worldwide and to US and non-US persons alike.”
The CIA reportedly engaged Dr Afridi to stage a fake vaccination campaign in the city where Bin Laden eventually killed in a US special forces raid in 2011. The idea had apparently been for the doctor to secure DNA material after vaccinating Bin Laden’s children, as a way of positively identifying the al Qaeda leader.
A senior official at the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC) who requested anonymity welcomed the statement issued by the White House. He termed it a ‘positive sign’ for the Pakistani government in its effort to fight against polio.
The official said that this statement will help Pakistan clear its position and image in front of the international community which maintains the perception that Pakistan is not serious about curbing the scourge.
He said the statement will also help to ease the trepidation embedded in the minds of tribal people after the Dr Afridi incident, and they will now feel secure in getting their children vaccinated against the disease.
“Shakil Afridi’s episode was one of the major reasons behind the destruction of the polio eradication programme in Fata, where polio teams did not get access since June 2012. It put the fate of over 250,000 children at stake,” said the official.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2014.
As Pakistan suffers a resurgence of polio, a top White House official pledged in a letter that intelligence agencies would foreswear the tactic, which is partly blamed for the spread of the crippling disease.
In the letter dated May 16, the White House has promised the United States will not use vaccination programmes as cover for spy operations – after the move was attempted during the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Conservative groups are reluctant to participate in vaccination programmes after Dr Shakil Afridi helped the CIA track down the al Qaeda chief through a fake vaccine project in Abbottabad.
President Barack Obama’s top White House anti-terrorism advisor Lisa Monaco told deans of 13 US schools of public health that CIA chief John Brennan had directed last year that agents would “make no operational use of vaccination programs.”
“Similarly, the agency will not seek to obtain or exploit DNA or other genetic material acquired through such programs,” he said. “This CIA policy applies worldwide and to US and non-US persons alike.”
The CIA reportedly engaged Dr Afridi to stage a fake vaccination campaign in the city where Bin Laden eventually killed in a US special forces raid in 2011. The idea had apparently been for the doctor to secure DNA material after vaccinating Bin Laden’s children, as a way of positively identifying the al Qaeda leader.
A senior official at the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC) who requested anonymity welcomed the statement issued by the White House. He termed it a ‘positive sign’ for the Pakistani government in its effort to fight against polio.
The official said that this statement will help Pakistan clear its position and image in front of the international community which maintains the perception that Pakistan is not serious about curbing the scourge.
He said the statement will also help to ease the trepidation embedded in the minds of tribal people after the Dr Afridi incident, and they will now feel secure in getting their children vaccinated against the disease.
“Shakil Afridi’s episode was one of the major reasons behind the destruction of the polio eradication programme in Fata, where polio teams did not get access since June 2012. It put the fate of over 250,000 children at stake,” said the official.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2014.