The last stand

Pakistan’s failure to eradicate the polio virus may have some serious implications – ones that go far beyond the medical. The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has recommended that there be international travel restrictions on every adult or child travelling outside polio-endemic Pakistan. Afghanistan and Nigeria are also recommended for a travel ban. The purpose of such a Draconian move is to prevent the virus from travelling to countries that have fought hard to free themselves of it and who now do not wish to jeopardize their polio-free status. The recommendation in the IMB report, titled ‘The Last Stand?’, says that no country should allow citizens of a polio-endemic state to cross their borders without a valid certificate of polio vaccination. The world is tantalizingly close to eradicating polio, but the final push needs a mighty effort. The persistence of the virus in Pakistan is...