Why Pakistan is denying COVID-19 vaccination to its healthcare workers?

KARACHI: Of the 1.2 million healthcare workers, serving at both public and private sectors in Pakistan, only 224,000 doctors, paramedics and nurses have so far managed to get both doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine as the government has stopped their registration for inoculation, citing ‘lack of interest’, The News has learnt.

“Less than 20 percent of the healthcare workers (HCWs ) including doctors, paramedics and nurses have so far been inoculated in the country. The drive to inoculate around 460,000 frontline healthcare workers started on February 1, 2021 and later all 1.2 million HCWs were allowed to get vaccinated,” an official of the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS,R&C) told The News.

According to data available with The News, the highest number of HCWs who received the first dose in Punjab is around 183,000 while only 83,000 managed to get the second dose, in Sindh 120,000 managed to get first dose and 80,000 received the both doses, around 50,000 received the first dose in KPK while only 26,000 received the both doses.

Similarly, only 16,000 HCWs got first vaccine dose in Balochistan while around 10,500 managed to get both the doses, 14,500 got vaccinated in Islamabad while 10,500 managed both, around 11,000 got the first dose in Azad Jammu Kashmir while 8,500 managed had them both and in Gilgit Baltistan, around 5,000 HCW have so far received the first dose while around 4,000 received both doses.

At the moment, Pakistan has acquired around 2.15 million vaccine doses of Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines to vaccinate only 1.4 million people, while 20,000 have been inoculated with Russian Sputnik V in the private sector.

Talking to The News, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan said healthcare workers were not being denied. “Nearly 430 thousand frontline HCWs were registered and are getting vaccine. Nearly 180 thousand normal HCW were also registered in the 4-week window and are getting vaccinated.” Responding to a query as to why the registration of healthcare workers was closed, he said: “We closed the portal after 4 weeks (it was long enough to simply register). We will try to re-open (the registration) with some additional checks to prevent misuse,” he added.

Another government official, who requested anonymity, told The News that around 351,000 healthcare workers got the first dose of the vaccine and of them, around 224,000 received the second dose when the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) suddenly stopped the registration of healthcare workers on March 17, 2021 in the entire country.

“So far, not even all the frontline healthcare workers, who are around 460,000 in the country, have been inoculated in Pakistan. There are thousands of healthcare workers, who are still working at Covid-19 wards unprotected as they are not being offered vaccination,” the official claimed.

Responding to a query, the official said government gave priority to healthcare workers while vaccinating its adult population but they showed lack of interest and despite appeals, threats and incentives, they remained aloof from the vaccination drive, compelling authorities to stop registration.

“Healthcare workers were lazy in registration. When it was closed, now many want to be vaccinated but now (they) will get it on turn,” the official said adding that at the moment, people of 50 years of age and above are being inoculated, which also includes healthcare workers.

He maintained that the government intends to vaccinate all 1.2 healthcare workers in both public and private sectors but diverted the vaccine to the elderly due to low interest among healthcare workers. “Enough supplies are in the pipeline now. There is a plan to open all priority categories having higher exposures,” the official added.