WHO asked to announce 15-day certificate exemption for Pakistani travellers

Minister says polio vaccination certificates will be free of charge; government will devise strategy in 15 days


Ali Sidiki May 07, 2014
Express News screen grab of Tarar from the press conference.

ISLAMABAD: The government requested the World Health Organisation (WHO) to announce that Pakistani travellers should not be asked for polio vaccination certificates for the next 15 days, Express News reported. 

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Minister of State for National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar said that WHO had been asked to give the government 15 days to devise a clear strategy on the matter.

The WHO on Monday recommended that travel restrictions be placed on Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria for being the only three countries that are currently exporting wild poliovirus. Tarar dismissed the development and the requirement for certificates as "no big deal" and said that there are no travel restrictions on Pakistanis.

The government is working towards clearing the prevalent confusion regarding travel restrictions, said Tarar, who was speaking after a key meeting with all provincial health ministers and representatives of health departments.

“We just spoke with the WHO head, and have asked him to give us 15 days to devise a strategy,” Tarar said.

We also told him to announce internationally that for the next 15 days Pakistani passengers should not asked to present proof of vaccination, she added.

Clearing the confusion about people with foreign passports, she said: “People who intend to stay in Pakistan for over four weeks should be vaccinated.”

She also added that Pakistani citizens traveling abroad will be provided with polio vaccine certificates free of charge.

Tarar also took the opportunity to inform the media that the provincial governments are working towards providing security to polio workers, adding that polio vaccination centres will be set up in each province.

“Rs80 crore will be spent annually on polio vaccinations,” she added.

COMMENTS (25)

john | 9 years ago | Reply

What a farce, Is everyone blind? vaccinations are nothing but poisons. So they want to make money by giving you guys it? and lets not forget how dangerous these are. Bill Gates’ Polio Vaccine Program Caused 47,500 Cases of Paralysis Death. see it for yourself. http://nsnbc.me/2013/05/08/bill-gates-polio-vaccine-program-caused-47500-cases-of-paralysis-death/ 98 million Americans were given polio vaccine contaminated with cancer-causing virus, admits CDC

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041345cdcpoliovaccinesv40.html#ixzz35B9b7DWf Get serious educate yourselves before its to late...

shaban | 9 years ago | Reply

I do not believe that vaccination of adults will help in eliminating poliomyelitis virus. Let me explain why: The virus enters through the mouth and multiplies in the throat and gastrointestinal tract, then moves into the bloodstream and is carried to the central nervous system where it replicates and destroys the motor neuron cells. Motor neurons control the muscles for swallowing, circulation, respiration, and the trunk, arms, and legs. Allah made our immune system which protects itself and other cells by producing antibodies that engage the poliovirus, covering them and preventing the virus from interacting with another cells. What the vaccine does is to put a polio virus into our body in an in-active state, so that our immune system recognises the virus from an early stage, and can produce the anti-bodies later in our life, if we are attacked with the Virus. An adult is less likely to get infected, but by taking the vaccine he has high risks of getting VAPP, Vaccine associated paralytic polio, and this is common with people with low immune systems. Statistics shows that proper hygiene was responsible for the elimination of the disease and not any vaccine. While I was in Sudan, the govt. there would spend millions of malaria medicine, but would not bother to open drains and make way for rain water. There would be a puddle of water in front of every house. Proper hygiene and mothers milk is the best vaccine against any infection. But we are ruled by business enterprises who want to make a dime even out of our crap.

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