WHO rejects Pak's claim of running fake vaccination camps to hunt Osama

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said UN agencies were not involved in a CIA fake vaccination programme to trace slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan has claimed that UN agencies were involved in the programme to hunt down Osama.

Last week the foreign ministry alleged that UN agencies were involved in the campaign, claiming it led the public to doubt genuine polio vaccination drives, the BBC reports.

According to the report, just days after the WHO revealed that Pakistan was among the worst countries affected by polio, a foreign office spokesperson said that suspicion fostered by the CIA's fake vaccination programme was a major reason behind the rise in polio.

The foreign office added that a fake campaign of vaccination was conducted in Pakistan in which the UN agencies were also used.

The WHO has disputed Pakistan's claim, saying it was 'deeply concerned by the circulation of an incorrect statement that was made during a press conference'.

It said that the statement 'wrongly and erroneously alleged the involvement of United Nations agencies in events conducted by Dr Shakeel Afridi'.

Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi was accused of using the cover of a door-to-door vaccination campaign to help the US find Osama in 2011, the report added.