ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s planning minister Asad Umar said on Thursday the decision concerning the travel suitability of various COVID-19 vaccines should be taken by relevant global institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO) instead of individual nations.
Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operations Center that oversees his country’s pandemic response, maintained in a Twitter post that the health and well-being of people across the world should not be held “hostage to global geostrategic rivalries.”
“Each country deciding which vaccine is acceptable for travel to that country is creating chaos,” he claimed.
vaccine acceptability decisions have to be taken by a global institution like WHO. Each country deciding which vaccine is acceptable for travel to that country is creating chaos. The health & well being of world citizens cannot become hostage to global geo strategic rivalries
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) June 24, 2021
Pakistan has heavily relied on COVID-19 vaccines prepared in China since the beginning of its immunization drive in February this year.
Many developed countries, however, have decided not to grant travel permission to people who took Chinese vaccines, asking world citizens to take Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson and Johnson instead.
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently urged the international community to abandon “vaccine nationalism” and help developing nations with post-pandemic economic recovery.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also upheld China’s perspective on the issue while addressing the Asia and Pacific High Level Conference on Belt and Road Cooperation on Wednesday.
“Echoing the sentiments of the speakers today, let me on behalf of this distinguished forum, endorse President Xi Jinping’s declaration of making COVID-19 vaccine a global public good, dispel notions of stigmatization, and reject vaccine nationalism,” Qureshi said. “We should make collective endeavors to ensure equitable and affordable supply of vaccine to developing countries.”
There are several vaccine brands available in the international market and every country has approved some specific version of it for its citizens, leading to a question of universal acceptability and creating obstacles for those traveling to other countries.
Early this week, Pakistan signed a deal with Pfizer for an additional 1.3 million COVID-19 doses without releasing details of its agreement.
The country has so far administered over 13.8 million doses and aims to vaccinate 70 million people by next year.
In recent weeks, Pakistan has witnessed a steady decline in COVID-19 cases and its positivity ratio has also reduced significantly.
According to official data, 1,097 people tested positive for the disease and 38 deaths were reported on Wednesday.
The country has so far reported 951,865 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 22,108 fatalities since the emergence of the pandemic last year.
