Door-to-door vaccination

In a first of its kind, the Sindh government has decided to launch a door-to-door vaccination drive for protection from coronavirus, in view of the rising cases of the Omicron variant of the disease in the province. The decision is particularly taken because the inoculation rate among women has been found unsatisfactory. Since men go outdoors more than women, they have received the prescribed two jabs of the anti-Covid vaccines in bigger numbers. But a fairly large number of females have yet remained unvaccinated, as around 30 million jabs have been administered in Sindh as of January 4. Now women will now be offered the jabs at their homes through lady health workers.

Governments over the world are making efforts to inoculate the maximum number of people given the fact that Covid-19 is a highly contagious illness. The unvaccinated pose a risk to both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Experience shows that with time the virus has the tendency to mutate into various forms. So far, three variants have come up, affecting people nearly all over the globe. With the onset of winter, the omicron variety of the disease has been spreading across the world. There is nothing surprising about the present surge in the infection rate as scientists had warned that the virus’s fangs get sharper and enlarged in the cold weather. It would be misleading to go by the 2020 experience when the coronavirus raged during April and May in the region as well as the entire world, taking a heavy toll of human life. It is quite possible that those who fell prey to coronavirus may have had contracted the infection months earlier before the symptoms became manifest.

Now the Omicron variant is spreading in Pakistan and its neigbourhood. All parts of the country, including Sindh, are in the grip of the deadly virus. Unfortunately, people are completely disregarding precautions as if the dreaded virus has fully disappeared. The authorities should pay attention to this preventive aspect too.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2022.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.