Pakistan has for years been a hotbed of anti-vax conspiracy belief against even the simplest vaccine available - the oral one for polio. The government has made a push to get numbers of kids vaccinated:
The most incredible thing in the video is the police person saying that over the last 16 years, 1700 police have been killed in the course of trying to support the health workers administering the vaccine!
It is mentioned in the video that Pakistanis remember how the CIA used a fake vaccination campaign as cover to help track down Bin Laden - but the conspiracy rumours that vaccines were actually harmful (and a plot by the West against Islam) long predated that. Look at this quote from a Bloomberg report:
Mehrab Ali, a fruit merchant in Karachi, is one of many across the Islamic republic who won’t step forward after Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday launched the nation’s vaccination drive. The father of six, who also refused to vaccinate his children against polio, argued that Covid-19 is a foreign plot against Muslims.
“Coronavirus is nothing but a conspiracy,” said the 43-year-old, sitting by his pushcart on a road leading to Karachi’s port. “I don’t believe the coronavirus exists nor does polio. I am not ready to accept that Jews and Christians sitting abroad are worried about the health of our children -- no way.”
Just terrible.
1 comment:
"The most incredible thing in the video is the police person saying that over the last 16 years, 1700 police have been killed in the course of trying to support the health workers administering the vaccine!"
That is fantastic. A ray of hope at last. Someone has to be the sharp end of the spear. Can't be me. I have to stay out of trouble.
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