Well, is Polio common in Iraq still? (I really have no idea) Most places in Iraq don't have good sanitation or access to health care, so if Polio is still circulating, then I would see introducing the vaccine as a potential good thing. Polio started declining in this country as sanitation increased, diets became healthier, and overall health care improved. Those things are NOT going to happen in Iraq over night, so I see a use for that vaccine.
I am not anti-vaccine, I am pro-informed choices. Here in this country, since Polio does not circulate, my children do have sanitary living conditions and access to health care, I choose to not vaccinate them. If those conditions didn't exist, then I'd consider the vaccine.
So as long as any costs of the vaccine aren't being taken from available money to improve the overall conditions over there, then I don't see a problem with having it available.
And the costs likely come from two completely different pools of money...one thing I found ever so frustrating [I was active duty military] was how much money was being put towards projects that I found to be very worthwhile--like building a women's shelter-- but at the same time our own troops don't always have armor and ammunition they need. But I had to remind myself that it's completely different money from different sources that don't mix. Frustrating, yes, but reality.
