Health experts continue to react to the CIA’s use of a vaccine campaign to hunt Osama bin Laden:

  • “The revelation will likely feed conspiracy theorists and set back a range of humanitarian operations. But that’s just part of the problem. Talk of the phony vaccination drive could also strengthen terrorist networks that use public health initiatives as a way to gain the trust of local communities,” Daniil Davydoff and Scott Rosenstein, members of Eurasia Group’s global health practice, write in Foreign Policy’s “The Call” blog (7/15).
  • “Before the betrayal devolves into a public health crisis, President Obama and leaders in Congress should acknowledge the damage to global health efforts and commit to repairing the trust. They should begin where the need is most urgent: Pakistan. They should make clear to regional leaders that despite cuts in foreign aid and U.S. support for the Pakistani military, Americans will not walk away from their region’s poor, their needy children, or commitments to stopping the spread of deadly diseases,” Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center, and Laurie Garrett, author and senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, write in a Washington Post opinion piece (7/15).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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