"Until we know better about the security situation, we are asking our staff to work at home," WHO's chief co-ordinator for the anti-polio programme in Pakistan, Elias Durry, told dpa. Children's welfare agency UNICEF also condemned this week's attacks on Pakistani health workers.
"The government of Pakistan and the affected provinces have temporarily suspended the vaccination campaign due to concerns over the safety of health workers," the two UN agencies said. But a senior government official said thousands of health workers directly reporting to it would continue their field work. "WHO and UNICEF officials just provide additional support by monitoring the progress in the campaign," said Altaf Bosan, national co-ordinator for a polio-monitoring cell in the prime minister's office. A few hours earlier, a volunteer health worker was shot in the head while administering the oral vaccine during a door-to-door campaign in Peshawar, police spokesman Jalaluddin said.