EDITORIAL: The global debate about the right kind of lockdown is now as old as the pandemic itself. First, when the bad news initially broke out of Wuhan, China like a bad dream that nobody could shake away, it seemed natural to shut literally everything and hunker down till the storm passed. But each time things got better and people got out and economies started to move again, there was yet another 'wave' of the coronavirus to contend with. It was this troubling pattern that made Prime Minister Imran Khan come out with his 'smart lockdown' novelty; which has so far, beyond a doubt, enabled us to deal with the troubles of Covid-19 in a much better way than most countries in the world. Even the World Economic Forum noted, as the PM duly pointed out the other day, that Pakistan was ranked the third country in the world which had taken timely steps to save people and its economy.
Despite the success, though, there is little doubt that the Delta variant of the virus is giving policymakers the same kind of sleepless nights once again, especially in Sindh where the PPP government's decision to impose a partial lockdown has triggered the same old debate about good and bad types of lockdowns. Yet the provincial government's threat of blocking SIM cards of unvaccinated people really seems to have set the cat among the pigeons. In fact, in one example, the Karachi Expo Centre was overwhelmed after hundreds of people rushed to it on Saturday to get their shots and protect their phone connections; to the point that vaccination had to be suspended because of all the 'chaos'.
In such circumstances any step that forces people to get vaccinated must be appreciated, regardless of any differences about the broader policy. It has been felt for quite some time that somebody in Islamabad had to give a thought to the problem that is caused by people with no identity cards. How are they going to be vaccinated? Surely, they can't be left out because that would amount to keeping the virus, and hence the risk, alive among us. And that, in turn, would mean that nobody would still be truly safe. This space has, in the past, recommended that Nadra set up booths outside or near vaccination centres to facilitate this particular segment of society. It would also have the added benefit of documenting a very large part of our population that wasn't previously part of the official record books. It appears that this advice is at last being heeded for the government has come out with a plan to do just that.
This is going to be a pretty challenging exercise because it is not just about reaching people who have been unable to apply for identity cards for one reason or the other, like extreme poverty, etc., but there's also an element of possible complications in this exercise with Afghanistan's troubles pushing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people to our gates once again, not many of which can be counted on to be vaccinated, the problem only multiplies.
And that only makes this a matter of the most severe urgency for the government. We cannot afford to let anybody be left out of the vaccination drive. And until the matter of identity cards is settled, that will not be possible.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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