Vaccination milestone

It is a good news for the Pakistani travellers that the United Kingdom has allowed persons fully vaccinated with Chinese vaccines – Sinovac and Sinopharm – to travel to the country from November 22. Both Chinese vaccines are being administered to Pakistani citizens since dispatching of Sinovac and Sinopharm to Pakistan by China. These vaccines have passed through all trials, yet governments of western countries and some states in the Middle East were suspicious about the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines. Earlier, those vaccinated with Sinovac or Sinopharm had to take a COVID PCR test within 3 days before travelling to England, book and pay for day two and day eight COVID PCR tests after arriving in England and complete a passenger locator form.

Another positive development is that Pakistan has been registering less than two percent Coronavirus positivity rate and less than 1,000 daily infections for the last three weeks. The only deterrents against the pandemic are vaccination and social distancing. Fortunately, Pakistan has achieved this milestone of stopping the spread of Corona-related pandemic during the last two years. However, a large number of citizens are still dubious about its effectiveness due to rumours about the side effects of the vaccine. Rumour mongering and a lack of education play havoc with the government’s drive to vaccinate the population against the pandemic. The resistance to vaccination is still present in many parts of the country. It shows that there are widespread misconceptions about the vaccination. The fact that action will be taken against those avoiding vaccination provides some hope that the struggle to achieve the vaccination milestone will be successful.

While the state’s commitment to fighting the pandemic is encouraging, it is not enough to just initiate vaccination drives and there has to be a campaign to spread awareness about the disease. The propaganda that the vaccine is a Western conspiracy needs to be tackled through proper counseling. This narrative has taken hold in certain communities because there is not a strong enough counter narrative to educate the people of the fact that the vaccine saves lives and does not have adverse effects on the health of the recipients.