The announcement by Health Services SAPM Dr Faisal Sultan that vaccination will begin next week is welcome, but it does not mean that the covid-19 pandemic is over. He announced that there would be designated vaccination centers, where citizens would apply through SMS and be informed when to appear for administration at which centre. The first batch of vaccines, 500,000 doses, has been donated by China, but future doses will have to be bought, and even if orders are immediately placed, the country would perforce have to take its place at the end of a very long queue. Urgency was always there, but it has become even more pressing because of the need for follow-up doses of the vaccine. The 500,000 doses, if administered, will create the necessity of administering a second dose to the recipients, or else to lose the benefit of the vaccine. It is also to be borne in mind that the second dose of a different vaccine may not be useful. It is also not feasible, because of storage issues, to vaccinate only 250,000 health workers, and keep the remaining 250,000 doses for the second time.
The government is apparently working on the assumption that people want to get vaccinated, and will volunteer for doses. This is not a safe assumption, not since the target must be blanket coverage, and thus vaccinating more 120 million people. Pakistan has not got a particularly good record, as its experience with the polio vaccine shows. It must learn from that experience, well as from the difficulties other countries are facing in the covid-19 rollout. The USA, for example, is facing problems from people failing to turn up for their vaccine appointments, not to mention the problem of doses in multi-dose vials going waste once a vial had been opened and no one was left to vaccinate. This is also a time when we might let slip our guard as a society. Relief may be permissible, but relaxation is not. The precautions of social distancing, frequent handwashing and mask wearing cannot be relaxed. While the authorities tackle the massive logistical problems it entails, they must not lose sight of this.
