The Telegraph: Polio worker gunned down in Pakistan trying to persuade family to vaccinate children

“A polio worker was shot dead while trying to persuade a family to vaccinate their children against the crippling virus. Wajid Ali was killed in Mohmand district in northern Pakistan after allegedly remonstrating with a man over his failure to allow his children to take polio drops. His killing was the latest of many attacks on vaccinators in Pakistan and comes amid growing concern over attacks on health workers worldwide. … ‘I give Wajid’s family my word that I will personally follow this case to its conclusion. Parents can refuse polio vaccination, but attacking and then killing innocent polio workers will not be tolerated, no matter what,’ said Babar Atta, Imran Khan’s special adviser on polio. The World Health Organization also condemned the attack on health workers in one of the last surviving haunts of a virus that once crippled hundreds of thousands a year worldwide…” (Farmer, 4/9).