Two police officers died in separate attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajaur tribal district while protecting health workers administering polio vaccine to children. The attacks involved motorcycle-riding militants and occurred as Pakistan began a nationwide polio vaccination effort. The campaign aimed to counter rising polio cases and deliver vaccine drops to millions of children across high-risk districts. Polio is a highly infectious virus that mainly affects children under five and can cause lifelong paralysis. The vaccine is easily prevented through oral administration. Vaccine misinformation in rural areas has been spread by militants, who claim vaccination drives are part of a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslim children. More than 200 polio workers and police officers have been killed in Pakistan since the 1990s, and polio remains endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"During the polio campaign in the tribal district of Bajaur District, two police officials assigned to protect vaccination teams were shot dead by motorcycle-riding militants in two separate attacks, a senior security official based in Peshawar told the AFP news agency."
"Polio is a highly infectious virus that mainly affects children under five. If caught, the virus can result in lifelong paralysis. The disease is easily prevented by a vaccine, which can be administered orally with a few drops."
"But misinformation about the vaccine has circulated in rural Pakistan and been spread by militants, who falsely claim the vaccination drives are part of a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslim children."
"Pakistan kicked off a week-long vaccination campaign in 79 high-risk districts, where authorities hope to administer polio drops to more than 19 million children. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic."
Read at www.dw.com
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