In a tweet posted from his official account, Babar Bin Atta stated that he wished the newspaper had contacted him for his version. He added that Pakistan had a bigger Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (VDPV) outbreak in 2016/17 in Balochistan but no one blamed Ayesha Raza.
Senator Ayesha Raza, who was prime minister’s focal person on polio eradication from November 2013 to August 2018, had been quoted by The Guardian as saying that Babar Bin Atta had ruined the polio eradication programme through corruption and mismanagement.
https://twitter.com/babarbinatta/status/1192556918293831680?s=20
Babar Bin Atta stated that he would be writing to the UK daily to ‘correct the record and issue an apology’, otherwise he would by pursuing legal options.
https://twitter.com/babarbinatta/status/1192682724294832128?s=20
According to the report, the P2 strain, the most dangerous strain of polio, had previously been eliminated from Pakistan in 2014, but new cases were hidden from the government and international donors under direct instruction from the prime minister’s focal representative on polio eradication, Babar Bin Atta.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza has denied that the government covered up the outbreak and said that Sabin-like type 2 derived virus outbreak in Pakistan was being monitored with vigilance.
https://twitter.com/zfrmrza/status/1192627275180711936?s=20
He added that the situation was under control and a campaign would be starting on November 11. He said such outbreaks had occurred in Nigeria, Congo, China and Indonesia.
https://twitter.com/zfrmrza/status/1192629910285799424?s=20