CIA’s Fake Vaccination Program Fueled Vaccine Skepticism in Pakistan

Vaccine hesitancy is actually nothing new, and Pakistani Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq has been working to address the problem for a long time. In this episode, she talks with Ray Suarez about what we can learn from Pakistan’s experience distributing the polio vaccine. Even after CIA agents staged a fake vaccine campaign to collect intelligence on Osama bin Laden, stoking vaccine skepticism, health workers managed to brave death threats and convince people to vaccinate their children. They talked with families about the effects of polio, introduced them to victims of the disease and vaccinated the Prime Minister on live TV. Can we use the same strategies with COVID-19?

 

Guest:

Ayesha Raza Farooq, Senator in Pakistan and former focal point for Polio eradication

 

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