Vaccination woes : Omicron a threat in waiting for uninoculated

PESHAWAR:

With Karachi reporting its second suspected case of the Omicron variant of the superspreader, fears of the unvaccinated population falling prey to the virus have grown.

For instance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), where half of the population has not still been inoculated against Covid-19, concerns about undue pressure on the province’s health system, which has already been under strain due to the threat of dengue, have not been addressed as per sources.

Dr Khalid Rehman, Assistant Professor at the Khyber Medical University, while talking with the Express Tribune informed that the vaccination target in the province was set at roughly 24.5 million people but it was proving hard to achieve this. “Many have still not gotten their second jab and a significant number of people cannot get vaccinated at all due to not having identity cards, especially women,” Rehman said.

As the province’s residents go about their business unbothered about the existence of the coronavirus, precautionary measures have gone missing as well. Hammad Ali, a student at the University of Peshawar, which boasts a huge student population from across the country, said that currently there were no standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place at the institution. “Masks have become non-existent in the university and people are reluctant to get vaccinated as well,” Ali said. He further added that places like the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations which had a strict mask mandate have now thrown caution to the wind as well which forces passengers to travel in close quarters without any safety.

Despite Omicron spreading at lightning speeds in Europe and the World Health Organization (WHO) not yet clear on the severity of the variant, hospitals in K-P are confident that they are ready for the potential threat.

Sajjad Khan, who is the Media Manager at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), informed the Express Tribune that KTH was ready for the new variant as they had 122 beds reserved for Covid-19 patients. “28 beds with ventilators, 63 beds with an HDO unit, and 31 beds for low oxygen patients are available,” Khan said. Similarly, Faseeha Sharif, who is the Media Manager at the Hayatabad Medical Complex, informed that 90 beds were reserved for patients with coronavirus related complications and 68 ventilators were available as well. Sharif added that the hospital was ready for any kind of emergency situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2021.