Ministry clears confusion about polio vaccination certificate

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has not advised the authorities to check passengers’ polio vaccination certificates for international travel, said the ministry’s officials on Wednesday after Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Airlines reportedly disallowed people to travel abroad for want of the document issued by the NADRA.

“If some countries have such requirements, they let the travelers know regarding it through their embassies and consulates prior to issuance of visas and travel requirements,” Dr Baseer Achakzai, Director General Health Services Islamabad told The News.

Similarly, he said, National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad has also not issued any such advisory to people in general or any other authority in Pakistan, adding that health authorities had not advised every traveler to get Polio Vaccination Certificate from National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

Federal Secretary Health Iftikhar Shallwani was also unaware of any such requirement for international travel, saying Pakistan would follow the directives and guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO), which has not slapped any such restriction on Pakistanis travelling abroad.

In addition, officials at National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad said polio vaccination is not mandatory for the international travel as per International Health Regulations, adding that no such restrictions had been imposed on Pakistani travelers to carry polio vaccine certificates on the pattern of COVID-19 vaccination cards. Responding to a query regarding the polio vaccination certificate, an official of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on the condition of the anonymity, “We received directives from the office of the federal ombudsman to instruct airlines not to issue international tickets to people without polio vaccination certificates and we acted accordingly.” The official also shared the letter received from the office of federal ombudsman carrying the directives.

Meanwhile, Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) officials said a person can have a polio vaccination certificate on the pattern of COVID-19 as they are registering the polio vaccination status of inoculated people in the National Immunization Management System (NIMS).