Gunmen in Pakistan Kill Women Who Were Giving Children Polio Vaccines

DECLAN WALSH and DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
nytimes.com
December 19, 2012

Gunmen shot dead five female health workers who were immunizing children against polio on Tuesday, causing the Pakistani government to suspend vaccinations in two cities and dealing a fresh setback to an eradication campaign dogged by Taliban resistance in a country that is one of the disease’s last global strongholds.

“It is a blow, no doubt,” said Shahnaz Wazir Ali, an adviser on polio to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. “Never before have female health workers been targeted like this in Pakistan. Clearly there will have to be more and better arrangements for security.”

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but most suspicion focused on the Pakistani Taliban, which has previously blocked polio vaccinators and complained that the United States is using the program as a cover for espionage.

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This article was posted: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 2:35 pm

Tags: eugenics, foreign affairs, science, technology

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