I CANNOT say it with cent per cent guarantee, but I do strongly believe that the vaccination staff at the Expo Centre in Karachi seems to be administering significantly less amount of vaccine than the required dose.

I went to the vaccination centre early morning on May 25. When I started to undo the button of my right sleeve, the attendant insisted that the shot would be given on my left arm. This made it necessary for me to have my left side facing him, instead of being face-to-face, making it really difficult to watch what he was up to. By the time I had folded up my left sleeve, he was ready with the syringe and had put the vial back in the cold box instead of putting it in a separate container for used vials. He then moved a little further to my back where I could not see him at all.

After the shot, I told him that I needed to take a picture of the vial as evidence. So he took out the vial again from the cold box. I was a bit surprised that about one-fourth of the vaccine was still in it. When I asked him about it, he said that the vial contained two doses. Later, I realised that this could not be true, and there was something wrong; possibly one vial was being used for multiple persons.

The authorities concerned should look into this matter urgently to eliminate any wrongdoing, or to clarify if a single vial indeed contains multiple doses.

N. Zakeria

Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2021