Vaccine hesitancy

As can be seen across the world, vaccine hesitancy is rampant in Pakistan. In developing countries like ours, it is quite challenging and difficult to vaccinate people who readily believe vaccine-related misinformation and myths. Also, many people – even after knowing the fact that the country has faced three waves of Covid-19 – don’t think that the virus is capable of creating serious health issues. There are so many conspiracy theories that have polluted people’s minds. The first one says that vaccines are being used to implant microchips that can be traced by the founder of Microsoft. The other one claims that the vaccines are somehow capable of altering a person’s DNA. Another theory says that the vaccine will cause infertility in men. The latest one suggests that those who have received the vaccine will die within two years. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) can play a pivotal role in fighting against these fake news in an efficient manner. It must take timely action against those websites and social media pages that circulate this baseless information. Anyone who is guilty of spreading fake news should be asked to publish factual stories.

The Punjab government recently decided to block SIM cards of unvaccinated people. Before taking this strict action, the authorities should ask telecom companies to play PSA messages as caller tunes urging people to not listen to conspiracy theories. Public notices should be published in newspapers to convince people to get vaccinated in a timely manner. Leaflets and brochures should be hung at various places to create awareness among people. Vaccination certificates should be made mandatory for all kinds of transactions.

Pardeep Kumar Maharaj

Karachi