Maryn McKenna

Journalist and Author

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CIA: In Future, We Won't Derail Major International Public Health Efforts. (Thanks?)

May 20, 2014 By Maryn Leave a Comment

Image: Julian Harneis (CC), Flickr

There’s news out this week that feels almost impossible to deliver without an eyeroll: The CIA has promised that it will “never again” use an international vaccination campaign as a cover for intelligence gathering.

I can’t see why not. I mean, the last attempt ended so well.

(Yes, that was sarcasm.)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Science, Science Blogs, Superbug Tagged With: CIA, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, polio, Taliban, WTF

Polio Eradication: The Bad News Continues

January 10, 2013 By Maryn Leave a Comment

When last we left the long asymptote of polio eradication, nine health workers in Pakistan who had been administering polio vaccine had been murdered, presumably by the Taliban or its sympathizers, because polio eradication has been cast by them as a plot against Islam in the wake of a CIA operation which used vaccinations as an attempt to get close to Osama bin Laden.

(If this story is new to you: Yes, really. For background, start with this post, and then read this, this, and this.)

So it’s discouraging to say that, in the past few weeks, the news hasn’t gotten any better — though some additional voices have joined the debate in an attempt to stress to the world how important this moment is.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Science, Science Blogs, Superbug Tagged With: CIA, Pakistan, polio, Science Blogs, Taliban, Who, WTF

Taliban Murders Six Immunizers in Wake of CIA Polio Ruse

December 18, 2012 By Maryn Leave a Comment

(This post has been updated. Read to the end.)

There is news today, confirmed by several media outlets and also by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, that six people working as polio vaccinators were murdered in three separate coordinated attacks in Pakistan. While no one has yet claimed responsibility, it is widely assumed that the attackers have ties to the Taliban, which has opposed the polio-vaccination campaign as a Western plot and accused vaccinators of working as spies for the CIA.

This is grievous and appalling. Infuriatingly, it was also predictable. Constant readers will remember that, back in 2011, the CIA did use a vaccination campaign as a ruse to attempt to to find Osama bin Laden. The unsuccessful attempt was denounced all over the world for putting the polio campaign at risk, and news sources within Pakistan quickly began reporting that vaccinators were feeling threatened. Adding to the sense of threat, a Taliban commander blocked the campaign in one province last June, a United Nations doctor and his driver were fired on in July, and a vaccinator was executed in October by a man who roared up on a motorbike and dashed away.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Science, Science Blogs, Superbug Tagged With: CIA, Pakistan, polio, Science Blogs, Taliban, Who, WTF

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