KARACHI(National Times)- Hundreds of travellers were left scrambling at Karachi’s only designated vaccination centre at the airport on Monday, spending hours in queues and thousands of rupees on a verification process that many of them were subsequently told they did not need after the government extended the deadline for mandatory vaccination certificates for Saudi Arabia and African countries.
A large number of people had arrived at the centre. Some were sitting, some were standing, and others were hurrying from one place to another in a visibly distressed state inside the facility, which had no electricity or enough seating arrangements in the ongoing scorching weather.
The confusion followed an initial announcement on Sept 7 that was widely understood and reported on some TV channels and on social media as making vaccination certificates mandatory for all international travellers from Sept 14. Travellers rushed to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) verification centres and the Federal Government Civil Dispensary at Jinnah International Airport to get vaccinated, with many arriving early in the morning and waiting for hours to complete the process.
Some who were travelling to the US and European countries also arrived for the vaccination certificate due to the ongoing confusion but were told that they did not need it, as the requirement was only for those travelling to Saudi Arabia and Africa.
People say they are made to pay thousands before being told vaccination certificates are not required until Sept 25
By Monday, however, the government extended the implementation deadline for the vaccination certificate requirement, even for Saudi Arabia, until Sept 25.
A notification issued by the Border Health Services, Pakistan on Sept 14 stated that influenza, meningitis and polio vaccines were mandatory for Umrah pilgrims, people travelling to Saudi Arabia on work visas and those staying in Saudi Arabia for more than six months and that “in the interest of the public and sister agencies,” the deadline for that has been extended until Sept 25.
When Dawn contacted BHS-P’s International Health Regulation Focal Person Dr Syed Ghulam Murtaza Shah for further clarity on this, he said that requirement to carry a Nadra-linked vaccination certificate would also apply to workers and those intending to stay in Saudi Arabia for more than six months.
He added that the initiative would be extended to more airports in the future.
An official at the verification centre also told Dawn that the vaccination requirement did not apply to all international travellers. He said confusion had spread partly because of reports on some TV channels and on social media that portrayed it as a blanket requirement.
He also claimed that some travel agents had contributed to the rush as their business had been affected by the government providing the vaccines at a lower cost than the amounts being charged by some agents.
However, the extension does not apply to the yellow fever vaccination required for travelling to South Africa, he added.
The vaccination process involves three stages: verification through Nadra and the Pak ID app, vaccination at the designated airport facility and issuance of a vaccination card that can subsequently be downloaded.
For the travellers who had already gone through the first stage, however, the government’s deadline extension came too late to save either the money they had paid or the hours they had spent waiting.
Travellers said they had paid thousands of rupees for the verification process covering three to four vaccines/tests for travel before Sept 25.
An elderly woman, who had completed the payment, said she was due to travel on Sept 15 and therefore no longer needed to complete the vaccination process before the extended deadline. “I paid over Rs4,000, but now I am being told that the money will not be returned. So my money has been wasted,” she said.
She said she, along with her husband, had reached the centre at around 8am and were still there after 2pm. “Both our money and our time have been wasted,” she said.
Another woman, who had arrived with her husband and daughter, complained about the long queues and what she described as a shortage of staff at the centre. “There should be more staff here. That is why it is taking so long,” she said, adding that her family had also arrived early in the morning and had spent hours waiting.
She questioned why the government had not announced the requirement several days earlier and made proper arrangements instead of introducing it suddenly.
A young man standing there also complained. He said that he had first gone to the Nadra office in Saudabad but its server was down and so the verification could not be done there. Because of that, he said he travelled to a mega centre and got the verification done. “But all that was in vain. I’m travelling for Umrah tomorrow and don’t need the certificate. But because I have paid the fee, which is not being refunded, I am getting the certificate anyway.”
A Nadra official present at the airport dispensary confirmed that. He told Dawn that once the verification fee had been submitted, the money went “into the government account” and would not be refunded, whether or not the traveller eventually received the vaccination.
