Analysis

Concerns and conspiracy theories about the importance of polio vaccines and the motivations of internationally funded campaigns circulated online. In Pakistan, news that nearly 42,000 parents in Karachi refused polio drops for their children drew mixed responses. While some criticized those who refuse to vaccinate, many argued that Pakistan has bigger priorities, such as access to clean water, air quality issues, and other diseases. Some posts accuse Bill Gates of using polio vaccines to control the population, while others promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including claims that polio vaccines are part of a Jewish conspiracy (yahudi sazish) to harm children. 
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, responses to an article about efforts to deliver polio vaccines to displaced children were overwhelmingly anti-vaccine. Posts called the polio vaccine a “hoax,” falsely claimed that other countries don’t have door-to-door vaccine campaigns, and cast doubt on the safety of donated vaccines.