When the CIA Becomes Poliomyelitis’ Ally

The fight toward the eradication of polio is one of the great epics of humanity that has not had a Homer to rise to the challenge. Those of us who are older can remember former playmates who limped or wore orthopedics, but also showed great courage despite their affliction. In 1988, still recent history, the map of Spain was stained red by the epidemic, much like the rest of Europe, and the WHO (World Health Organization) had received notifications of 350,000 infections worldwide.

Today, polio stubbornly resists in strongholds where it thrives on the alliance between obscurantism and poverty: Afghanistan, northeastern Pakistan and northern Nigeria. These are the remaining reservoirs where the three variants of the polio virus persist and where it is becoming necessary to reach an almost impossible threshold of 90 percent immunity in order to prevent reinfection. That is to say, one out of every 10 children must be vaccinated, whether they live in remote villages that have been destroyed by war or in immense slums that have been abandoned by God. These areas all share a common trait: strict Islamic regimes, governed by individuals who see vaccination campaigns as just another Western conspiracy and who spread the idea that the life-saving vaccine is actually meant to sterilize innocent Muslims.

Indeed, beyond the challenge of remote locations and a lack of resources, beyond the challenge of politic corruption and indifference, the eradication of the last bastions of polio must also fight fanaticism, as well as the stupidity of those who, given their responsibility and knowledge — the latter being only an assumption — should know that one does not play with public health. If it is a war crime to protect oneself using the flag of the Red Cross in order to carry out a military operation, it is an inexcusable injustice to cover up an espionage mission with a false vaccination campaign. The CIA did this in the spring of 2011 in Pakistan, when it was pursuing Osama bin Laden. Under the direction of Dr. Shakil Afridi, a team supposedly fighting polio infiltrated Abbottabad, where they requested DNA samples of the population in order to confirm that the leader of al-Qaida was hiding in the area. They were caught. The doctor went to jail, and the Taliban understood the advantage that they could get from the situation. In the end, only they have prospered, whereas the common people live in miserable conditions. Since then, 50 health workers, mainly women, have been assassinated in Pakistan and Afghanistan, while another 40 have been killed in northern Nigeria, a stronghold for Boko Haram’s extremists. Vaccination campaigns had to be stopped, and at the beginning of this year, the WHO gave out an emergency health notice because of a rise of polio in Africa and Asia.

Only a few days ago, those in charge of the CIA promised that the agency would never again use vaccination campaigns as a cover for other activities. This is a good first step. However, perhaps President Barack Obama could compensate for the fiasco with a good injection of funds into the WHO. At the very least, there should be enough money to pay for the security costs of the health teams that are risking their lives by returning to these dangerous areas so that polio, like smallpox, can one day be just another chapter in the history books.