Daily Times

Good of the prime minister’s special adviser on national health services, Dr Faisal Sultan, to try and calm nerves by assuring that the government would procure Covid-19 vaccine on the basis of transparent data about its efficacy and safety. That is very reassuring indeed especially since the increasing number of cases and deaths from the second wave of the coronavirus have left pretty much the whole country in shock. And after spending a little time in denial, expecting the second wave to recede quickly just like the first wave, people have increasingly started looking towards the prospect of the government acquiring some vaccine sometime soon to relieve all the suffering.

However, the notion that only the company that would present scientific research data in a transparent manner would be considered for the purpose in Pakistan, though very well intentioned no doubt, seems to present a bit of a problem considering how the vaccine is being rolled out across the world. Everybody knows by now that the usual time for preparing such a vaccine is somewhere between 10 and 15 years, and the process had to be fast-tracked this time considering the death and destruction caused by the coronavirus. Now, countries that have accepted some vaccines that have so far hit the market are taking calculated risks because they know very well that circumstances just do not allow them the luxury of testing scientific results for long term implications, and third world countries like Pakistan will in fact have to make even more concessions.

As things stand, some of the more prominent vaccines that are being used in the US and UK, for example, require conditions that are too much to ask much of the poorer world. Ensuring temperatures between minus-70 and minus-75 Celsius to store the vaccines and then ensure two jabs for such large populations will require the kind of investments that they are incapable of arranging in the near term. The Russian and Chinese varieties, which the Pakistani government is trying to acquire, might be more affordable but there too the aspect of detailed scientific testing is not going to be available unless we are willing to wait for the long term and see how their results turn out in other countries. Therefore, while it is very encouraging that the government has the wellbeing of the people in mind, it is still important to point out that it would have to consider a number of very realistic limitations before making its final decision. *