Desperate Pakistani Expats Storm Islamabad Vaccination Centre In Hunt For Non-Chinese Covid-19 Jabs: Report

Pakistani expatriate workers, desperate to obtain a Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca Covid-19 shot so they can return to work in Saudi Arabia stormed a vaccination centre in Islamabad on Monday (Jun 29), CNN reported.

Saudi Arabia does not recognise vaccination certificates of Chinese vaccines despite the fact that the World Health Organisation has now registered at least two Chinese-manufactured vaccines — Sinopharm and Sinovac.

Saudi Arabia, which bars direct travel from Pakistan, has only approved the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson vaccines. Anyone arriving without one of those shots is required to quarantine at a cost many Pakistani workers say they cannot afford.

Saudi Arabia is the largest source of foreign remittances to Pakistan, which depends on these funds to support its current account given the country’s trade deficit.

According to The Dawn, Pakistan received $7 billion in remittances from Saudi Arabia in the current financial year,, making up more than a quarter of overall remittances.

Pakistan has seen protests in various parts of the country by workers waiting to go back overseas for jobs. Last week, more than a thousand people protested in Khyber Pakhtunkua province over the government's lack of non-Chinese vaccines, with demonstrations in Dir and Bajaur districts.

Earlier this month, Pakistan lifted a rule barring the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for people below 40 years old, in a bid to help inoculate people who need to travel for education or jobs abroad, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan has received 1.2 million doses that it obtained through the World Health Organization's Covax facility. The country also procured around 100,000 doses of Pfizer, meant for immunocompromised people.