Pakistanis in S Arabia demand US vaccine
Medical attendants prepare to vaccinate health workers with Chinese-made Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Karachi on February 3. PHOTO: AFP
Overseas Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia have demanded of the government to make special arrangements for their Covid-19 vaccination on priority because Saudi Arabia is not allowing entry to people who have received Chinese vaccines and European or US vaccines are not available locally.
This has put thousands of Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia in a difficult situation because only Chinese vaccine is being administered in Pakistan.
Addressing a protest outside Dir Press Club in Timergara, President of Overseas Pakistanis Association Ahmad Sadiq, said that overseas Pakistanis were the lifeline of the Pakistani economy because they send billions of dollars each year in remittances but even then they were not being facilitated by the government.
“Chinese vaccines are not acceptable to the Saudi government and they are not allowing anyone vaccinated with it in the country. Government should arrange other vaccines for those people who are working in Saudi Arabia because thousands of people could not go to their work in Saudi Arabia because of this issue,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2021.