Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said on Saturday that flouting standard operating procedures (SOPs) could lead to another Covid wave in Pakistan.
“If we don’t get serious about it now then we might have to face another wave (COVID-19),” said PM Imran Khan’s aide on health, reported The Express Tribune.
In a video message, he said that the compliance rate had come down to 46 per cent which was at 75 to 80 per cent a few weeks ago. “We also monitor this (compliance of SOPs) but unfortunately we fall behind in this aspect which is a concern for the government,” he added.
Sharing some statistics in this regard, he said that only 40 per cent were following the guidelines in the business and transportation sector, meaning around 60 per cent were not adhering to the SOPs, reported The Express Tribune.
The PM’s aide on health further said that in the industrial sector the compliance rate is only 38 per cent, in mosques and Imambargahs 41 per cent and in other public places it hovers around 40 to 42 per cent. “In hospitals, it is 70 per cent but there it should be no less than 100 per cent,” he stressed.
Showing overall satisfaction on the vaccination drive going on in the country, Dr Faisal, however, said that the country had not reached a point where the government’s anti-Covid strategy start to depend on vaccinations, reported The Express Tribune.
“When we would have vaccinated 50, 60 or 70 per cent of our population then maybe we can depend mostly on vaccine-based strategy but we are not there yet and till the time we don’t reach that point, we have to rely on SOPs,” he added.
PM’s aide said that 11.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have reached the country so far and 76 per cent of these have been purchased by the government of Pakistan, The Express Tribune reported.
He said that World Health Organisation (WHO) has given the emergency use authorisation to the SinoVac vaccine. “Pakistan has been administering SinoVac since May 9 and we had full faith in the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. WHO’s approval confirms our evaluation and it will encourage more countries to approve the vaccine.”
Answering about the myth that people will die within two years of receiving the vaccine, he said that news was being circulated about Nobel Prize winner Luc Montagnier’s claims about Covid vaccines is completely false and there is no evidence, and the claim has been discredited by multiple fact-checking organisations.
Dr Faisal said that there is no published scientific research that suggests that people will die within two years of receiving the vaccine, reported The Express Tribune.
He said that a video was circulating that showed bulb lighting up upon making contact with a vaccinated person’s arm. “This video has also been declared fake news as the vaccinated arms do not generate electricity and cannot light a bulb.”
