WITH 500,000 doses of Sinopharm scheduled to arrive soon from China, the moment that Pakistan has been waiting for in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic is here. Now begins the daunting task of administering the vaccine to a vast number of people. The National Command and Operation Centre has unveiled an eight-step process for registration and vaccination. An online portal has been created for people to register themselves, and vaccination centres are being set up across the country, with coordination cells at the provincial and district levels. The government has also secured 17m doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine through Covax, WHO’s vaccine support platform, out of which nearly 7m will be available within the first quarter. As with its prompt response when the pandemic initially made its presence felt in the country, Sindh appears to have hit the ground running. On Friday, it presented a detailed phase-wise plan to inoculate its population, starting with 170,000 front-line health workers. Aside from its share of the Sinopharm vaccine it is to receive from the centre, the Sindh government is also planning to procure vaccines on its own, provided it receives permission from the federal authorities to do so.

The real test of the strategy will of course come when the inoculation drive actually gets underway, which should be very soon. One foreseeable hurdle is that online registration will not be practical for many segments of the population, and will surely need to be supplemented by a door-to-door effort. In a country prone to conspiracy theories, where power and privilege go hand in hand, it is vital that the process be completely transparent so it does not become mired in controversy. Far too much hinges on a successful rollout of the inoculation drive. On Friday in the upper house, some senators expressed fears that ‘elite groups’ such as politicians, generals and judges would be vaccinated first. The minister for parliamentary affairs assured them that priority will be given to high-risk individuals, which include front-line health professionals, the elderly and teachers. The NCOC must continue to provide regular updates on the inoculation drive as well as disaggregated data of the vaccine recipients to instil confidence among the people. An awareness campaign also needs to be rolled out to counter misinformation and reassure a public where too many are prone to suspicions about the side effects of vaccination.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2021