KARACHI: Health professionals on Tuesday confirmed that COVID-19 vaccination was administered to people other than doctors and paramedics in Sindh, though a spokesperson of the provincial health department said there was only one such incident and the vaccination drive was being carried out under the supervision of the federal government. 

“No one other than people working for healthcare facilities benefitted from the vaccine,” Meeran Yousuf told Arab News, adding that an inquiry had been launched into the “lone incident of misuse” and its report would be available on Wednesday.

“The investigation is on and we will get the inquiry report by tomorrow evening,” she said. “The National Immunization Management System by the federal government is fully functional now.” 

A deputy district health officer, Dr. Aneela Qureshi, was suspended on Sunday by the provincial authorities after she was accused of inoculating the family of a former governor of the province, Muhammad Zubair. 

The COVID-19 vaccination campaign was launched in Karachi last week, and the first phase of the drive was exclusively meant for frontline health workers who have been dealing with patients of the debilitating respiratory disease. The vaccine will then be administered to elderly people of 65 or above in the next phase. 

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah announced while inaugurating the vaccination drive in the province that his administration had received 83,000 doses that would be dedicated to frontline health workers. Shah was also informed at the ceremony that a meticulous record of health workers had been maintained by relevant authorities to ensure transparency. 

According to some reports in the local media, there have been widespread irregularities in the campaign and many unrelated individuals have also benefited from the immunization drive.

Speaking to Arab News, the secretary general of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Dr. Qaisar Sajjad, said that 186 doctors and 30 paramedics had died while treating coronavirus patients in the country, making health workers the most vulnerable community.

He added it was unfortunate that vaccines were used to immunize people other than people working at medical facilities.

“It has been done and it is a fact,” he said while referring to the misuse of vaccination program in Sindh. “At this stage, the vaccine should only be administered to health professionals.”

Prof Sohail Akhtar, a prominent pulmonologist, said health workers were not given priority at all. 

“Not only has the vaccination been administered to influential people, the government has failed to prioritize the most vulnerable as well,” he continued. 

Akhtar claimed that a doctor recently visited a vaccination center and saw that it was “open for all,” adding that the doctor immediately called his brother and got him inoculated. 

“There is no merit,” he said, “and we fear that doctors and other health workers, who are assigned to ICUs and COVID-19 wards, will miss the immunization drive.”