[aprilthird2021]

Not the first time either. The US covert use of fake vaccination drives to gather intel to assassinate Bin Laden caused the public to become distrustful of vaccinations and led to the resurgence of Polio in that region.

[djohnston]

Can you provide a source that the vaccines were fake? My understanding is that it was a real vaccine drive also gathering intel. But please share your sources.

[aprilthird2021]

Not that the vaccines themselves were fake (though the full multi-step doses were never actually administered, source included below). But the drive was fake, and the taking of blood samples at the time advertised to check for diseases was also fake in that the blood was never checked for diseases at all.

Source for never completing the multiple steps of the vaccine doses: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vacci...

Source for blood sample procurement under false pretenses: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-14117438

[aragonite]

I think gp intends "fake" to modify "vaccine drives", not "vaccine".

[aspenmayer]

The vaccines were purported to be real hepatitis B vaccines, as the aid workers involved in the operation had previously successfully gained entry to the Bin Laden compound in order to vaccinate his children against polio. However, the aid workers did not complete the multiple doses necessary to complete the sequences of the hep B vaccine, so the vaccination program ruse could arguably be characterized as "fake" as it did not follow proper vaccination protocols, regardless of whether or not the vaccines used in the farce were themselves legitimate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Osama_bin_Laden

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vacci...

> The doctor went to Abbottabad in March, saying he had procured funds to give free vaccinations for hepatitis B. Bypassing the management of the Abbottabad health services, he paid generous sums to low-ranking local government health workers, who took part in the operation without knowing about the connection to Bin Laden. Health visitors in the area were among the few people who had gained access to the Bin Laden compound in the past, administering polio drops to some of the children.

> Afridi had posters for the vaccination programme put up around Abbottabad, featuring a vaccine made by Amson, a medicine manufacturer based on the outskirts of Islamabad.

> In March health workers administered the vaccine in a poor neighbourhood on the edge of Abbottabad called Nawa Sher. The hepatitis B vaccine is usually given in three doses, the second a month after the first. But in April, instead of administering the second dose in Nawa Sher, the doctor returned to Abbottabad and moved the nurses on to Bilal Town, the suburb where Bin Laden lived.

> It is not known exactly how the doctor hoped to get DNA from the vaccinations, although nurses could have been trained to withdraw some blood in the needle after administrating the drug.

> "The whole thing was totally irregular," said one Pakistani official. "Bilal Town is a well-to-do area. Why would you choose that place to give free vaccines? And what is the official surgeon of Khyber doing working in Abbottabad?"

> A nurse known as Bakhto, whose full name is Mukhtar Bibi, managed to gain entry to the Bin Laden compound to administer the vaccines. According to several sources, the doctor, who waited outside, told her to take in a handbag that was fitted with an electronic device. It is not clear what the device was, or whether she left it behind. It is also not known whether the CIA managed to obtain any Bin Laden DNA, although one source suggested the operation did not succeed.

For what it's worth, the CIA has committed to not use vaccination programs or workers or DNA obtained through such programs in operations going forward.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-cia/white-house-vow...

[pessimizer]

> For what it's worth, the CIA has committed to not use vaccination programs or workers or DNA obtained through such programs in operations going forward.

That was also the policy before they did it.

[aspenmayer]

Modern problems require modern solutions.