Pakistan sets Aug.31 deadline for staff of public, private sector offices, businesses for vaccination
A woman receives a vaccine against coronavirus at the drive-through vaccination facility in Karachi, Pakistan, on Thursday. Reuters
Gulf Today Report
Pakistan Minister for Development and Special Initiatives and chief of the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar has said that lockdown is not a good remedy to tackle the deadly coronavirus as the only solution to eradicate this ailment is vaccination.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad after the NCOC meeting on Thursday, Umar along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, urged the nation to get vaccinated against coronavirus. The government after Aug.31 will ban staff from entering public offices, restaurants, transport and shopping malls without vaccination certificates, Umar said.
The flight attendants, air passengers and school staff would be required to present virus vaccine certificates from Aug.1. However, the employees of public sector offices, transport, restaurants and shopping malls could not go to work without getting vaccine jabs after Aug.31, Umar added.
Students aged above 18 will also be required to be vaccinated. The vaccination was also mandatory for the drivers and conductors of the school buses.
Umar further said that if you're not vaccinated you can't go to teach at any educational institutions from Aug.1.
“We can't put our children's lives at risk just because that you're not ready to get the vaccine. Umar was of the view that cities across the country could not be locked down due to the fear of coronavirus. He said the government was going to close down things that caused the spread of the virus.
The Pakistani minister also said that vaccination was mandatory for hotel owners and staff. Besides this, the vaccination is also compulsory for the drivers of trains, buses, taxis and rickshaws. He warned that if people wanted to do business, they were required to get inoculated. He asked these people to get vaccinated by Aug.31.
