COVER UP DENIED AS POLIO STRAIN MAKES COMEBACK

PAKISTAN

Pakistan faced a fresh blow to its polio eradication efforts and accusations of a cover up, after officials confirmed an outbreak of a virus strain thought to have been stamped out.

Seven children have been paralyzed in recent months after being infected by a strain that was thought to have been wiped out, but was formerly used in vaccination campaigns. Officials were accused of trying to hush up the outbreak, which comes amid the country’s faltering eradication efforts, with a nearly seven-fold jump in cases since 2018.

A source told The Guardian that rather than announce the outbreak, senior officials decided on a secret vaccination campaign to target the strain. Pakistan’s government and the World Health Organization (WHO) denied a cover up and said they had waited until the strain was formally identified before announcing it.

Vaccine-derived outbreaks have been recently seen in Congo, Angola and Nigeria among others.