Afghanistan Bans Door-To-Door Vaccination Campaign Because of Safety Concerns

Afghanistan bans the polio campaign because of security concerns and the involvement of women during the campaigns. Health officials have confirmed that the polio outbreak can be catastrophic for the Children of Afghanistan. The WHO has confirmed 18 new cases of polio out of which six were reported last year. Polio is a deadly disease that may lead to paralysis and even death of the children.

One of the health officials working closely with the polio vaccinations in the country claimed “The reason behind the postponing of the polio campaign is the issues with the modality of implementation,” the health official explained on condition of anonymity. “The leadership of the current government has ordered us not to conduct door-to-door campaigns.”

The Taliban Government also claimed that the local mosques would be used for the vaccination program. The parents would be requested to visit the mosque for the vaccination shots. “This is very bad news for the polio program,” the official said. For the eradication to be successful, we need to cover more than 95% of the children with two doses of the vaccine”

Many Taliban leaders are living in Afghanistan which can be a security issue for them. Thus, the door-to-door campaign may leak out the hidden locations of the leaders. Trusting the campaign associates may lead to security concerns.

Previously cases of fake vaccination campaigns have been reported where the US intelligence worked posing as health care workers to identify the various locations and hideouts of the terrorists. This created a trust issue for which many health care workers have been attacked in the past.