KARACHI:
This is in response to a news piece published in your paper on September 10, 2021 headlined “3 Caught Fudging Jabs Data”. The problem of fake vaccination certificates is not just limited to Pakistan; a few weeks earlier news about sales of fake vaccine certificates in France made rounds in the media. This draws our attention to a bigger problem that is people’s unwillingness to get vaccinated. Such is their reluctance to get vaccinated that many have resorted to dishonesty and giving up money to avoid getting the jab. For this category of vaccine-hesitant people, incentives are unlikely to work. It is reasonable to believe that no reasoning can work with such people who are vehemently opposed to vaccination, putting everyone else around them at risk.
Considering that sickness and death from the coronavirus are everywhere around us, vaccination effectiveness is waning and new variants emerging, these people are further adding to the avoidable healthcare burden. However, we should still ask ourselves if this situation is a symptom of any shortcomings in the system. Nothing can justify their act of deceit, but it might be worth finding out what compelled them to resort to this unfair means of acquiring vaccination certificates in the hope of addressing the root cause of the problem. It is important for the government to identify the reasons underlying people’s hesitancy to get vaccinated and address it effectively. Otherwise, these people are putting the rest of the population at a significant risk.
Mariam Khan
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2021.
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