Female staff to inoculate unvaccinated women

Female staffers have started injecting Covid-19 vaccines to unvaccinated citizens, especially housewives across Sindh.

To achieve the target, the health department has hired at least a dozen vaccinators from each district on a six-month contract. Preference has been given to female candidates.

Parliamentary Health Secretary Qasim Siraj Soomro informed The Express Tribune that the new drive kicked off on Wednesday. "These vaccinators will inoculate unvaccinated persons, especially housewives."

Soomro said that door-to-door vaccination will help the health department immunise every citizen. He said that the new variant Omicron was more contagious and was infecting people. "If the variant infects the unvaccinated population, it will mount pressure on hospitals," he explained.

Read WHO sees more evidence that Omicron causes milder symptoms

The secretary said to avoid lockdowns, health workers must vaccinate everyone.

The current vaccination rate is about 54 per cent and the health department, after the new drive, hopes to increase the ratio to 80 per cent of the population of Sindh within next six months.

The health department said that the vaccination rate in most of the districts was about 40 per cent. It also indicated that in northern parts of Sindh, including Ghotki, Qambar-Shehdadkot and Shikarpur, the rate was low. However, it was significantly higher in southern belt areas such as Mirpurkhas and Tharparkar.

The first Omicron case surfaced in Karachi in an unvaccinated lady without any travel history. Doctors have been issuing warnings that SOPs were being ignored and advised the general public to follow guidelines issued by health authorities.

Vaccination mandatory for students

Meanwhile, the education department has issued orders to all private schools to vaccinate students aged between 12 and 18.

In a notification issued on Friday, the director general of the Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions Sindh said that all the educational institution should ensure 100 per cent vaccination of the students and their staff.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2022.