ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has refuted the rumours that a large number of persons died from COVID-19 were fully vaccinated.
“It’s not a fact,” the minister told the Senate in writing on Friday while responding to a question by Senator Professor Dr. Mehar Taj Roghani about its authenticity.
The House was apprised that the global evidence suggests that the COVID-19 vaccination grossly reduces the risk of serious disease and death while the data generated nationally through the National Immunization Management System indicates the same.
It was told that fully vaccinated persons acquire optimal protection two weeks after receiving the number of recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses (one or two depending upon the type used).
The national database indicates that the risk of COVID-19 infection among fully vaccinated individuals is 10 times less than the non-vaccinated individuals. The risk of mortality associated with COVID-19, therefore, also goes down to almost negligible.
It may be further useful to point out that the reasons of death among fully vaccinated individuals can be beyond COVID as well that are not captured by the COVID surveillance system.
Responding to another question about fake vaccination certificates, the minister told that the vaccination registration, inoculation, and certification system is linked to the NADRA database and hence gets automatically verified. The chances of fake vaccination certificate are, therefore, close to zero unless misused with mal intention, he added.
The minister told that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has devised a stringent monitoring system to avoid such practice using local administration. He said that any lapse-in this context is taken very seriously and dealt accordingly under law.
The House was also told that the NCOC further works very closely with different security agencies to identify and punish any other attempts of generating/acquiring fake certificates. Besides, the authenticity of the vaccination certificate is also verifiable by sending SMS to health-line 1166.
