Fafen demands parliamentary oversight of Covid-19 response

ISLAMABAD: With COVID-19 vaccine procurement in its initial stages, questions of accountability, transparency, and participatory decision-making remain unanswered at all policy and decision-making levels, making parliamentary oversight of the response critical to ensure a transparent and successful vaccination drive, states the third monthly COVID-19 response monitoring report released by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) here Wednesday.

Demanded parliamentary oversight of the response, Fafen believes that being one of the largest health-related procurement in Pakistan’s history, the government needs to have transparent and interactive communication about the vaccine’s selection and disbursement. Failure to do so will make the procurement process dubious and may also affect the credibility and acceptance of vaccines among the masses.

The report observes a decline in the total number of active cases by 15,007 even though December was the deadliest month for Pakistan as the country witnessed 2,010 more COVID-related deaths. Based on findings from data collected through stakeholders’ surveys and direct observation of enumerators deployed in 34 project districts, the report highlights the challenges and opportunities at hand as the government heads towards the daunting task of procurement and the administration of COVID-19 vaccine.

The report identifies regulation of COVID-19 testing and effective disbursement and administration of vaccination as two priority areas for better governance of the pandemic response. Findings also indicate continuing health-governance challenges at both policy and implementation levels that remain mostly unaddressed with the potential to worsen the healthcare crisis in the country.

According to the report, COVID-19 testing is one of the weakest areas requiring immediate and close government attention. At present, Pakistan has the lowest per capita testing capacity in the region. In December, the country conducted 1.2 million tests. Comparing this data with the number of deaths shows that the response has failed to keep pace with increase in cases. Such grave shortcomings in response management are both the cause and effect of lapses in the overall pandemic governance.

The chronic lack of legislative oversight of the COVID-19 response did not improve in December as both houses of Parliament paid next to no attention to the COVID-19 response, the report reveals. The elected representatives’ persistent lack of seriousness has affected the ongoing response’s quality and the upcoming task of COVID-19 vaccination.

According to the report, lack of public trust and seriousness is already hindering the effort to implement SOPs. A similar public attitude towards vaccination is bound to compound the pandemic’s impact on the community.