ISLAMABAD: Those intending to travel abroad have been put in a fix this week by seemingly contradictory information coming from official sources regarding the requirement for polio vaccination certificates.

Social media, especially travellers’ groups, are awash with directives attributed to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA), the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and other sources, indicating that polio certificates should now be obtained online rather than in person.

A recent statement by the PCAA, stating that the authority had “not imposed any condition of polio vaccination card/certificate requirement for passengers” only added to the confusion, and many interpreted it to mean that polio vaccination was no longer a requirement for international travel.

Ministry of Health Director General Dr Baseer Khan Achakzai told Dawn that a number of passengers had complained to the federal ombudsman that airlines were demanding polio vaccination certificates prior to booking.

Familiar yellow cards being phased out, proof of immunisation now available through Nadra-managed NIMS website

“The ombudsman wrote to PCAA to ensure that travellers would get complete information, but it seems the efforts to implement these directions caused further confusion,” he said.

The confusion stems from an earlier letter, which PCAA later claimed was “an internal correspondence of Islamabad Airport that has been cancelled”.

This letter indicated that only certain passengers would be able to get vaccination cards from the facilitation desk at the airport due to a shortage of cards.

However, Dr Achakzai told Dawn that travellers need not panic and should continue to follow the same process that has been in place since 2014, i.e. every Pakistani intending to travel abroad must get vaccinated.

According the polio programme’s website, polio vaccination is required for all international travellers regardless of their age.

“All travellers including country residents and long-term visitors (i.e. four weeks) of all ages, receive a dose of polio vaccine (bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine — bOPV) or inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) — between four weeks prior to international travel and receive the polio vaccination certificate,” it stated.

The only thing that has changed, ministry officials told Dawn, is the mode whereby prospective travellers can obtain the vaccination certificate.

In the past, intending travellers could obtain the familiar yellow immunisation cards from counters at major public hospitals or airports.

However, ministry officials claimed that in the wake of the complaints that some people were managing to obtain fake vaccination cards, it was decided to change the process of their issuance, making it similar to the method for obtaining proof of Covid-19 vaccination.

“Now, people carrying their passports would have to go to their local district health office or public sector hospitals to get polio drops. After vaccination, they will be provided a link and information for obtaining the vaccination certificate, which can be downloaded from the Nadra-operated National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) website,” an official said.

The Covid-19 vaccination certificate became a travel document in late 2020 following orders from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), and people could obtain the certificate from the Nadra-run NIMS website (https://nims.nadra.gov.pk/nims/certificate) after an online payment of Rs 100.

Since these certificates also carry a QR code, they are less liable to be forged. Now, the same facility has been introduced for the polio certificate as well.

“We have been fully implementing the guidelines of the International Monitoring Board (IMB) on polio and that is why Pakistan is not exporting polio virus to any country. Moreover, we have managed to control the [spread of the] virus within the country and in the current year, only two new cases have been reported,” Dr Achakzai told Dawn.

It is worth mentioning that IMB works on behalf of the international donor agencies and issues reports regarding the performance of the countries after every six months. In November 2014, travel restrictions were imposed on Pakistani travellers following IMB recommendations.

Mohammad Asghar in Rawalpindi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, Aug 5th, 2023