Though March 1 (today) marks the lifting of all remaining restrictions due to the coviid-19 pandemic, this should not be a signal for irresponsible behaviour. More importantly, this should not distract from the rollout of the vaccine, and there should be no slackening in the effort to get all 200 million Pakistanis inoculated. The arrival of the vaccine, and the initial inoculations, may have prompted the government to take this step towards normality, but it should not be forgotten that the two-dose requirement means that the real challenge will be ensuring that people complete their protection by getting their second dose. That is not the only task facing the government. It will have to procure the doses, which is a huge exercise for such a large population. It should not be forgotten that even if a few people are left unvaccinated, the virus could surge again. The national experience with the poliovirus has been unedifying.
Another problem is that the virus is still evolving, which means that the vaccines which are being ordered do not provide lifetime protection. It seems that the present vaccine will not work after a while, and those who receive it will probably need a booster dose after some time. The government needs to prepare for that. The government also needs to be careful and canny about which vaccination it orders. It does not want to end up like South Africa, where a local variant has rendered the vaccine imported useless. Incidentally, the spread of a UK variant should warn the government that it cannot keep the South African variant out forever.
The government should not squander the natural advantage given it by the fact that Pakistan has not been as badly hit as other countries. It does not have to do what so many countries have had to, which is restrict the spread. However, it has still got to ensure that its population is vaccinated. For that, it needs to pay attention to what is being done in countries which have carried out an earlier rollout. The pandemic has not hit Pakistan as hard as might have been expected, considering how dilapidated the healthcare system was, and thus how vulnerable the country was. However, the country cannot continue to presume on being given a free ride. The government must be wary.
