ISLAMABAD: Planning and Deve­lopment Minister Asad Umar on Thursday said that health and well-being of people should not become hostage to global geostrategic rivalries.

He said vaccine acceptability decisions should be taken by a global institution like the World Health Organisation amid reports that thousands of Pakistanis could not go to Saudi Arabia and some other countries as their governments were allowing entry to only those people who got themselves inoculated with the vaccine of their choice.

“The health and wellbeing of world citizens cannot become hostage to global geostrategic rivalries,” Mr Umar said in a tweet.

“Vaccine acceptability decisions should be taken by a global institution like WHO as each country deciding which vaccine is acceptable for travel to that country is creating chaos and confusion. The health and wellbeing of world citizens cannot become hostage to global geostrategic rivalries,” Mr Umar, who heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said.

A large number of overseas Pakistanis have been protesting in Islamabad demanding that they be administered the vaccines acceptable to the countries to which they want to travel.

The overseas Pakistanis are holding the protest on a daily basis at Islamabad’s F-9 Park Vaccination Centre as they want to be administered AstraZeneca vaccine which is acceptable to Saudi Arabia and some other countries of the world.

Says vaccine acceptability decisions should be taken by WHO

Only one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine reached Pakistan under the Covax facility and most of the Pakistanis are being administered the Chinese vaccine, which is not acceptable to a number of countries of the world, creating problems for the people willing to go abroad.

In a related development, the ambassadors and diplomats of 20 countries and officials representing international organisations visited the National Command and Operation Centre to observe Pakistan’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, said a statement issued by the NCOC.

A comprehensive briefing was given to them on various strands of NCOC’s response to Covid-19. They were apprised of global and regional comparison of the disease vis-à-vis Pakistan’s efforts to contain the pandemic, the statement said.

Statistics on disease outlook, cardinals of national covid response, capacity building of healthcare facilities, key IT initiatives and various contours of the national vaccination strategy were also highlighted during the briefing, the statement added.

The dignitaries appreciated Pakistan’s synergised efforts to mitigate adverse effects of the pandemic in the country.

“The diplomats were also briefed on Pakistan’s efforts to ensure global connectivity and were urged for a corresponding global response in terms of uninterrupted and even supply of doses of the vaccines to fight the pandemic,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, data released on Thursday by the NCOC showed that as many as 38 deaths and 1,097 cases were reported in a single day and the number of active cases stood at 32,936.

As many as 2,322 patients were admitted to hospitals, of them 276 were on ventilators.

Commemorative stamp

The Ministry of National Health Services, Ministry of Communications and Pakistan Post have released a commemorative stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, one of the world’s most important medical breakthroughs.

One hundred years ago, in 1921, the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes meant certain death for children. The discovery of insulin by Frederick Grant Banting and Charles F. Best proved life saving for people with diabetes and laid the foundation for a century of innovation across several areas.

Pakistan is the fourth largest country in the world in terms of people living with diabetes. One in four people have diabetes in Pakistan and many of them already had complications at the time of diagnosis. These and many underlying challenges necessitate more focus on diabetes.

The stamp is now available in all GPOs and can be purchased at postal outlets across the country.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2021