In Pakistan, You Could Lose Your Mobile Phone Service if You Don’t Get Vaccinated

All over the world, countries have been rolling out incentives to get their citizens vaccinated.

The very obvious choice is to offer money, or some sort of material reward in exchange for being vaccinated.

Countries like Hong Kong and states like California, for example, have rolled out lucky draws which promise prizes like vacation packages, Mercedes Benz cars, and vouchers for various hotels and shops.

The less obvious choice?

Offering citizens something to lose instead of gain.

Something other than their lives, I mean.

Pakistan Citizens Could Lose Mobile Phone Service if They Don’t Get Vaccinated

I suppose some governments just prefer to take the road less travelled.

In Pakistan, concern over the slow pace of coronavirus vaccinations has prompted authorities to take drastic measures. These measures include blocking people’s mobile phone service in two provinces, and suspending the salaries of some government employees who have not been vaccinated.

Hats off to the Pakistani government, because if there are two things that people these days can’t live without, it’s their phones and money.

Currently, the government has set a goal of vaccinating between 45 million and 65 million people by the end of this year. Recently, it has also announced plans to spend US$1.1 billion (S$1.5 billion) to procure vaccination doses.

However, as of Tuesday (15 June), the number of people in Pakistan who have been fully vaccinated is only at an estimated 3 million people—less than 2% of its population, according to government data.

The vaccination drive started back on 3 February.

So far, the country’s death toll from COVID-19 is recorded to be nearly 22,000 deaths. Nearly a million people have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic.

Pakistan’s Battle With Disinformation

According to the authorities, these measures are needed to address deep scepticism about COVID-19 vaccines, and about inoculations in the broader sense.

As reported by The Straits Times, Pakistan has long struggled with disinformation about vaccines—even vaccines that have been proven safe and effective.

This is particularly so for Polio. Parents in Pakistan commonly refuse polio immunisation for their children due to the false belief that the vaccine is harmful, and part of a US plot to sterilise the children.

This refusal of polio immunisation has made Pakistan one of the last refuges for the polio virus in the world, besides neighbouring country Afghanistan.

Now, conspiracy theories about the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine have become widespread in Pakistan.

“I have heard that people, after getting the coronavirus jab, will die within the two years,” said Mr Ehsan Ahmed, a truck driver in Karachi. “It is the reason that in our extended family of at least 25 people, no one is willing to vaccinate themselves,” he explained.

In an effort to push people to get vaccinated, the local authorities in two provinces, Punjab and Sindh, have announced that they plan on blocking the mobile phone service of residents who refuse the vaccination.

It has not been announced when the plan will take effect or how it will be enforced.

Information minister in Sindh, Mr Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, said that “The government is trying its best to facilitate people in getting the vaccine.” He said that the decision to not get a shot was unacceptable.

I mean, in certain cases like having pre-conditions or allergies it’s probably acceptable, but you get his point.

On top of their mobile phone service plan, the authorities in Sindh has also ordered its finance ministry to stop paying government employees who have not been vaccinated. This order will take effect starting in July.

However, like always, a new problem replaces the old one: ever since these plans have been announced, there has been a surge in reports of fake vaccination certificates.

Just this week in the port city of Karachi, one person was arrested by the police for selling forged vaccination certificates at the city’s largest vaccination centre. The certificates had cost around US$12 each.

Featured Image: Asianet-Pakistan/ Shutterstock.com