Several years ago, polio vaccinators in Quetta, Pakistan were shook by the murder of two colleagues. Armed men on a motorcycle shot a mother and daughter in a ‘drive-by’ style shooting as they were administering polio drops to children. Both women died on their way to hospital.
This attack is not an isolated incident. Vaccinators working on polio, cholera, measles and Ebola vaccination campaigns have often been the target of threats and violence in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Mali, Somalia, and South Sudan. Since 2020, misinformation, fear and polarisation surrounding COVID-19 vaccinations have resulted in vaccination centres around the world being vandalised or set on fire. COVID-19 vaccination workers have been threatened and assaulted, including in countries not at war such as India, Malta, and New Zealand. These attacks have devastating effects on public health measures, forcing the closure of vaccination centres or the suspension of vaccination campaigns and leaving communities vulnerable to serious disease.
Since 2016, our monitoring identified over 90 incidents of violence against vaccination workers and campaigns in 17 countries. At least 68 vaccination workers have been killed and vaccination campaigns were frequently suspended as a result.
This new Attacks on Vaccination Campaigns blog analyses Insecurity Insight’s data on attacks to health care to explore where they took place, who was affected, who was responsible, how these attacks may have changed in recent years, and how they relate to public health and politics. The analysis will bring together data from public sources and verified incidents shared by Aid in Danger partner agencies to provide a unique perspective on who is at risk and how vaccination campaigns could be made safer.
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