Cop escorting polio vaccine team shot dead in KP town
Apolice officer was shot dead in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday when a polio vaccination team he was escorting was attacked in a drive-by shooting. The attack in Karak, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, marked the second day of a five-day national immunisation drive.
Large security details are now frequently deployed with vaccine teams — particularly in the northwest.
“A policeman escorting a polio team came under attack.. they came on a motorcycle and opened fire from the back,” said Naqeeb Khan, a police official in Karak. “The policeman was killed on the spot,” he said.
The polio workers on the team in Karak escaped unharmed, according to another local police officer Irfan Khan. A search for the attackers who fled the scene was underway, he added. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The challenges faced by polio teams have sparked fears that any drive to inoculate the population against the coronavirus will also run into problems.
Pakistan regularly launches polio drives. The five-day polio vaccination campaign started on Monday in the country. It had hoped to eliminate polio back in 2018, when only 12 cases were reported. But in the years since there has been an uptick in new cases. The latest anti-polio drive started with the goal to vaccinate 40 million children across the country.
Suspicion of immunisation drives threatens to undermine the government campaign. Militants often target polio teams and police assigned to protect them. Militants claim the campaigns are a foreign conspiracy to sterilise children.
Meanwhile, around 285,000 polio frontline workers are visiting parents and caregivers at their doorsteps, adhering to strict Covid-19 precautionary measures and protocols while vaccinating children. “Our aim is to ensure timely and repeated vaccination of children. This is key to reduce the immunity gap and to protect our children against polio and other diseases. The government is committed to reach the goal of a polio-free Pakistan which requires full support of the nation, especially from communities and the parents and caregivers of children under the age of 5 years,” said Dr Faisal Sultan, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination. —