Pakistan policeman killed as gunmen open fire on polio vaccination team Pakistan is one of three countries - along with Nigeria and Afghanistan - where polio virus remains endemic. Last year, there were 58 reported cases. Not only must health workers deal with hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting along the border with Afghanistan, but militant commanders have refused access to swaths of their territory and accused them of being Western spies. In 2011 it emerged that the CIA had used a hepatitis vaccination campaign as a ruse to confirm the presence of Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad. Health officials believe that covert operation has undermined efforts to assure parents that the polio vaccine is safe. At times, police officers have intervened to force parents to have their children vaccinated. Last week, Egypt launched an emergency polio vaccination campaign after wild virus was found in sewage. The World Health Organisation said the strain matched one found in southern Pakistan, raising fears the country could be acting as a reservoir for reinfecting polio-free regions.