It’s been almost two years now that the outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared as a worldwide pandemic, and in that period pharmaceutical companies and the doctors and scientists have rushed to come up with vaccinations to combat the outbreak.
COVID-19 have affected different people in different ways, many having varied reactions and symptoms to it.
With all the wide-ranging symptoms and with new variations of the COVID-19 virus emerging continuously, it is imperative for everyone to be vaccinated for better chances to combat the virus.
Let us first understand what COVID-19 is, the vaccines that have been approved against it, and the way you can be vaccinated and get the certificate for it from the government of Pakistan.
What is COVID, and how is it transmitted?
COVID-19 or the Coronavirus Disease 2019 first originated in Wuhan, China at the end of the year 2019.
The virus causes a contagious disease that includes symptoms like fever, headache, breathing difficulties, cough, fatigue in the body, and in some cases, loss of smell and taste.
The signs might start to appear one to fourteen days after contact with an infected person. There are exceptions to that, as some people might not show any symptoms at all despite being infected.
It has been observed that 81% COVID-19 patients that develop symptoms might have mild-to-moderate symptoms like mild pneumonia, while 14% might develop severe symptoms like dyspnea, hypoxia, or extreme lung damage.
Amongst them, 5% of patients develop critical symptoms that prove fatal like respiratory failure, multi-organ dysfunction, and body shock.
Older people, immunocompromised individuals, children, and already suffering from terminal illnesses are amongst the demographic that are most fatally affected by COVID-19, although it is to be noted that many individuals that are young and healthy are also many times affected enough by COVID-19 that it becomes fatal for them.
COVID-19 is a highly infectious communicable disease; it is spread by touch and bodily contact as well, breathing in airborne droplets containing the virus.
The most common cause of transmission is breathing in air given out by an infected person through their cough or sneeze, and sometimes even through their talks.
You are most likely to get infected if you breathe 6ft near an infected person. Some other ways that you can infect include shaking hands or touching any part of the body of an infected person and then touching your face, or rarely, being exposed to an infected object and touching your face.
Vaccinations approved by WHO and the government of Pakistan
Currently, there are seven approved vaccines in use in Pakistan. Moderna, Sino Pharm, Cansino Bio, SinoVac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, PakVac, and Sputnik V are the vaccine approved by the Pakistan government for use in Pakistan.
The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) approves all the vaccines that are in use in Pakistan. World Health Organization also approves all the vaccines under the Emergency Utilization Listing (EUL).
The Pakistan government provides vaccines to its citizens free of cost. All citizens over the age of 12 are eligible for the vaccine, and the elderly and the immunocompromised are particularly encouraged to get the vaccine for their own safety by the government.
How to get Covid-19 Certificate in Pakistan
The National Immunization Management System (NIMS) are the one that are tasked with providing covid vaccination certificates to citizens. After being vaccinated, an individual would have to go through the following steps to get their cOVID-19 vaccination certificate online.
- First, visit the website ‘https://nims.nadra.gov.pk/’ and at the home page select the corona vaccine certificate button.
- You will be asked to provide your CNIC number and its issue date, as well as solve the given puzzle to prove that you are not a robot
- Next, you will be asked to provide further information like your name according to your passport, your passport number, and your nationality
- After this, you will be shown the terms and conditions set by the government which you would have to agree to go ahead.
- Your debit/credit card information as well as some other information would be asked for to confirm the payment.
- You would be presented with your payment receipt that you can print and will be forwarded to a screen where you can review all the information that you have presented till that occasion.
- After confirming that all the information given is correct, you can proceed to download your nadra vaccination certificate from the link given.
The NIMS have options where you can reprint already issued vaccination certificate Pakistan, change data on the certificate, and also have an option where foreigners that have administered vaccines out of Pakistan can get their certificate after verification of their vaccine.
There is no doubt anymore that the Coronavirus is here to stay. The only way we can combat this is if everyone can band together to get the vaccine doses and observe all the healthcare guidelines that are being imposed by the government.
Sadly, the reality is there are many that are not trusting in the vaccines and their effectiveness, despite it already being proven that they are effective in combating the severe symptoms caused by the virus. Conspiracy theories still prevail in a country like Pakistan that is very ignorant and, as a result, extremely superstitious.
Currently, only 26.9% of the total population is completely vaccinated, while 39.4% of the population has gotten at least one dose of the population.
These numbers are very low considering the fact that many in our country are very susceptible to the virus. In the light of our poor healthcare and poverty of the country, spreading of the virus in full swing will collapse the state of the country.
The vaccine is currently the most effective way to combat COVID-19, so we encourage and plead for all citizens and individuals to get the vaccine for not only your own safety, but for the safety of Pakistan.
