LAHORE:
Pakistan is aiming to vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of the year. However, it faces a significant challenge in trying to persuade citizens to roll up their sleeves at the backdrop of prevalent myths. Conspiracy theories and disinformation are impeding this mass inoculation drive. Since the general public has access to the internet, they search for information about vaccines and often come across inaccurate, unauthentic and misleading information which lead them to come up with absurd conclusions.
Many are now skeptical that the vaccine being administered in Pakistan is fraudulent and ineffective. It is unfortunate that even educated people in the country believe this vaccine may be a Western ploy against Muslims. In this context, the Islamabad High Court had to recently dismiss an absurd petition aimed at stopping the drive by claiming that the vials were filled with animal DNA and nanobots.
Even though the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) has been deputed to conduct vaccination, whereby dedicated centres are set up across the country for senior citizens above the age of 60, the overall progress has been rather slow. So far, only 240,000 — or about 3% — out of an estimated eight million citizens over the age of 65 have registered to receive the vaccine in the second phase, according to recent government data. My octogenarian father and some elderly people I know of got themselves registered, got the vaccine shot and expressed satisfaction over the quality of vaccine, with no adverse reaction. The whole process was conducted without any hiccups.
It is imperative that this vulnerable age group get themselves vaccinated at the earliest. Our only hope to resume normal life is heavily dependent on having community level immunity or to achieve herd immunity. Word of mouth encouragement from the vaccinated group is gradually creating awareness, therefore, we need to adopt various measures to neutralise misleading narratives. The government has begun to roll out an awareness campaign on television and other media platforms to encourage people to register for vaccinations and to dispel misinformation regarding the vaccine. Medical experts believe it is the responsibility of politicians and religious leaders to educate people about its safety and efficacy.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2021.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
