Pakistan mulls banning staff from entering public offices, schools, restaurants, transport and shopping malls without vaccination certificates, officials said on Thursday.
Individuals from the service sector must get vaccinated before August 31, or they will not be allowed to work, said Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Asad Umar, during a press conference on July 29. He was joined by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health (SAPM) Dr Faisal Sultan.
The minister, who also heads National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), a military-run body that oversees the pandemic response, said all those who work in the service sector, including transport workers, shop keepers, bankers, NADRA employees must get Covid-19 vaccine before August 31.
So far, only 2.7% of the population has got the full two COVID-19 vaccine shots.
The directives come while the country is facing fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic. In the month of July the country has seen the number of infections as well as fatalities jump up steadily across the country, but particularly in Karachi and Sindh.
The directives are applicable to all employees related to any job which requires dealing with a large number of people. Asad Umar elaborated that service sector employees interact with large groups of citizens and can expose them to the virus.
“All these sectors are high risk and have been shut down the most in the past. We want your businesses and work to flourish, we do not want to take away your earnings. We are acknowledging your importance, not punishing you”, the minister said to service sector workers.
Those travelling by air from Aug 1 onwards must have received at least one dose of the vaccine, said Asad Umar.
Additionally, school and college teachers should also be vaccinated by Aug 1 and observed that statistics from last week show that 80 per cent of teachers had been vaccinated in the country.
“Those who are not vaccinated will not be allowed to work. We cannot risk the lives of our children because you refuse to get the vaccine”.
“Students above 18 years of age should also be vaccinated by August 31”, he added.
Closing down entire cities for weeks is not the solution
With rising coronavirus cases, the Sindh government is reportedly mulling a complete lockdown.
However, Asad Umar said that closing down entire cities for weeks was not the solution to curbing the spread of the virus. He said that Pakistan was among the world’s first few countries to realise that complete lockdown was not an effective way to battle the pandemic.
“Closing down entire cities for weeks is not the solution,” said Asad Umar. “We realised that the working class, the labourers have to pay the price of this,” he added.
Following the SOPs and enforcing lockdowns in hotspot areas was the only way to tackle the spread of the deadly virus. “We have seen success with this [strategy] time and again.”
The only solution is to vaccinate against the virus, he said.
Sharing the statistics, the minister said that currently, Islamabad’s SOP compliance was 56.4 per cent, 46.6pc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 42.7 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 37.4pc in Gilgit-Baltistan and 38pc in Punjab. Sindh and Balochistan have the lowest SOP compliance at 33pc, he said.
Asad Umar however mentioned that the federal government supports the Sindh government’s initiatives and discussions for a lockdown, promising the provision of all necessary enforcements.