Pakistan is aiming to vaccinate at least 70% of its population by the end of this year but the spread of false rumors, misinformation and myths have made this goal a challenging task to achieve. Pakistan has administered at least 53,314,628 doses of COVID vaccines so far till now, so assuming each person needs 2 doses of vaccines that make the total percentage of vaccinated population around 12.3%.
Government of Pakistan urge people to get vaccinated in the hope that Covid-19 vaccine will be able to contain the spread of coronavirus, but not everyone is eager to get a jab. According to a report by gallup Pakistan 49% of the population is still squeamish to get vaccination shot even after it is free of cost!
In a country where misinformation has resulted in even front-line workers expressing undue fears over getting themselves inoculated, the unwillingness of the public to get vaccinated must not come as a surprise.
Experts say that misinformation and religious beliefs are responsible for people’s mistrust of the vaccine.
Myths and Facts
It is important to get yourself vaccinated if we want to get back to near normal!
“If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. “We have all longed for this moment.”
The vaccine will help us achieve two things- the gradual decrease in mortality rate and secondly it will bring down the number of Covid cases. But unfortunately there have been a lot of misinformation and false rumors going around. So when you are deciding to get vaccinated it is important to separate myths and facts.
Even after so many cases, deaths around the world, unfortunately there are still many people in Pakistan that believes the pandemic doesn’t even exist.
Myth; The most common rumor going around on social media was that; The Covid-19 vaccine contains a chip tracking device which could trace people among others. Fact; There is no truth in this. Rubbishing all these myths, Dr Khanani said they had zero per cent reality. No chip, he pointed out, could be inserted in the human body through a liquid form of vaccine. The video shared thousand times on facebook making false claims were actually about the company that as an optimal version of its product contains a microchip within the syringe label that helps providers confirm a vaccine dose’s origin. The chip itself is not injected into the person getting the vaccine.
Myth; Another common myth is The Covid-19 vaccine causes infertility in women and make people impotent, changes their sexuality. Fact; This idea has no basis in science on social media suggests the vaccine trains the body to attack syncytin-1, a protein in the placenta, which could lead to infertility in women. The truth is, there’s an amino acid sequence shared between the spike protein and a placental protein; however, experts say it’s too short to trigger an immune response and therefore doesn’t affect fertility. As for impotency, Dr khanani said these vaccinations have been administered all over the world “Why would Americans, British and Chinese administer their population with a vaccine which can potentially make them impotent?” he asked. And that makes sense.
Myth; You can get Covid-19 from vaccine. Fact; its common sense you can’t get Covid-19 from the vaccine because it doesn’t contain the live virus.
What amplified the misapprehension regarding the vaccine is Prime Minister Imran Khan getting infected with Covid-19 the day after getting the first dose of a vaccine.
“The prime minister was already infected. He even had minor symptoms, but his doctors didn’t wait for the incubation period of the virus,” Dr Sajjad said, explaining that the vaccination was for the prevention, not for the cure. “There’s no definite cure or treatment of the virus,” he explained.
Myth; Certain blood type are likely to develop less severe reaction/symptoms to Covid-19 so therefore they don’t need to get vaccinated. Fact; Again after so much research, no evidence is available that supports this myth.
Myth; The covid-19 vaccine has severe allergic reaction. Fact; This claim is incorrect, the truth is no patient has suffered so far from any irreversible reaction in trials or in the population. All medicines have the potential to cause some side effects but this need to be weighed up against the harm of the disease they are trying to prevent. Only minor side effects happen appear in some people like muscle pain, chills and headache.
Myth; This myth is going around in Pakistan that if you vaccinated you will live only for 2 more years, as ridiculous as this rumor sounds some people actually believe in it. Fact; Research shows that there is no reason to believe that this myth is even remotely true. By choosing to get vaccinated you are not only protecting yourself but your loved ones also.
How to get yourself registered for vaccine in Pakistan?
Register yourself by sending your CNIC no to 1166 (free sms) from any mobile no or visit http://nims.nadra.gov.pk/ and just walk-in to nearest centre for vaccination.
Author: Maria Sarfraz (mariaa.sarfraz)
