Vaccine rates

The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan appears to be under control – though the infection rates are going up again – but this should not be a cause for any complacency or celebration. To date, only five percent of Pakistan’s total population has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. For the eligible population, this ratio is around 10 percent which places Pakistan at one of the lowest ranks of countries where the pace of vaccination remains fairly sluggish. A disturbing fact is that the largest province of Pakistan which already lags behind other areas of the country in terms of health facilities, has vaccinated just three percent of its population eligible for the dose. The ratio for Punjab and Sindh is also disappointing with just 10 percent of people vaccinated with at least one shot. These numbers are also misleading as counting the first shot of vaccine is not tantamount to full vaccination.

There have been thousands of cases in which people did not turn up for the second shot. This is happening due to multiple factors. One, the vaccination facilities are not yet available across the country in all districts. Even in urban areas people have to wait for hours at crowded vaccination centres before they get the shot. In rural areas long distances to the centres have made it hard for common people without transport to manage their vaccination. The number of women who got vaccinated is even lower, and apparently no gender-specific plans have been in place to offer the facilities to all women. Then there is a lack of education which has created misconception about the vaccine itself.

Vaccine hesitancy is the result of unfounded propaganda which travels fast on the wings of rumours; whereas the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) has been claiming that vaccine acceptance is not a big issue. If that is true there remains no excuse for the current slow pace of vaccination. The NHS must offer vaccination facilities near people’s residences and the long waiting time must be reduced so that the pace gains some momentum. A comparison with the rest of the world is enough to open our eyes. Across the world around 25 percent of the population has received vaccination. In neighbouring India that faced a much worse situation than Pakistan, at least 20 percent eligible population has benefitted from the vaccine; in Turkey this ratio is over 40 percent. Here we are not discussing the most developed countries of the world such as Israel and the UK where the ratio is over 65 percent and the US with 50 percent vaccination. All adults over 18 years of age are eligible, which makes Pakistan a country with 125 million such people. This is a big number and needs proper planning and better coordination before yet another wave becomes a serious threat.