Vaccines and Spying

The NY Times is reporting that the CIA has banned its “operational use” of vaccination programs, which came to light in the context of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. As if it weren’t already hard enough to launch successful vaccination campaigns (domestically and globally), this vaccination+spying taint has surely added further obstacles. And while it’s great to have an affirmative statement that the program has been stopped, significant damage has already been done – trust has already been lost, and it will be incredibly difficult to get skeptical populations back on board. Unfortunately, a statement from the spy promising not to spy anymore isn’t likely to do much. We’ve seen lasting impact of the Wakefield paper linking vaccines to autism, despite its retraction and extensive repudiation – the long term global impact of the CIA’s program could be even worse, with refusal to participate in vaccination programs compounded by violence against public health workers accused of covert activity. Put this alongside physician involvement in executions under the heading: “Ways Not to Mix Medical and Non-Medical Objectives.”

Holly Fernandez Lynch

Holly Fernandez Lynch, JD, MBE, is the John Russell Dickson, MD Presidential Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. She is also the Assistant Faculty Director of Online Education, helping to lead the university’s first online master’s degree, the Master of Health Care Innovation, and other online offerings.

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