Pakistan polio team caught faking data, wasting vaccines

Islamabad, Nov 19 (IANS) A team of Pakistani polio vaccinators were caught faking data and wasting polio vaccines here, police said on Monday. Confirming the incident, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Asif Rahim said the services of all 11 team members were terminated, reports Dawn news. "We decided on severe punishment because this is not tolerable. This was not just a blunder or a mistake. Due to what the team did, a number of children were not vaccinated which can also delay getting to the goal of eradicating the virus from the country," he said. An official of the polio programme said that on Saturday, a team from the World Health Organisation caught vaccinators deputed at the permanent transit point (PTP) of Sabzi Mandi Mor. They would spill two drops of the vaccine on the ground for every fake name they would enter in the data for vaccinated children. Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world with ongoing wild poliovirus transmission, alongside Afghanistan and Nigeria. --IANS