Pakistan's Sindh makes booster dose compulsory after new COVID-19 variant discovery

A man receives a dose of vaccine against the coronavirus, during a drive-through vaccination in Karachi, Pakistan, on August 3, 2021. (AFP/File)

• Omicron strain spread across globe on Sunday shutting borders and renewing curbs
• The highly infectious strain has cast doubt on global efforts to battle the pandemic

KARACHI: The government in Pakistan’s southeastern Sindh province has decided to make a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine compulsory for the fully vaccinate people after the discovery of the new Omicron strain of COVID-19, local media reported on Sunday. 
The new, heavily mutated COVID-19 variant spread across the globe on Sunday, shutting borders and renewing curbs as the European Union chief said governments faced a “race against time” to understand the strain. 
Indonesia announced similar entry restrictions on Sunday and Angola became the first southern African country to suspend all flights from its regional neighbors Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. 
The Omicron strain has cast doubt on global efforts to battle the pandemic because of fears that it is highly infectious, forcing countries to reimpose measures many had hoped were a thing of the past. 
On Sunday, the Sindh health department announced that fully vaccinated individuals would be administered a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine to prevent the spread of the new virus strain, Urdu-language Jang newspaper reported. 
“Booster jabs are currently being administered at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center and Dow University of Health Sciences Ojha Campus [in Karachi], but the scale of vaccination will be expanded across the province,” the report quoted Sindh Health Secretary Zulfiqar Ali Shah as saying. 
No fee would be charged for the administration of the booster jab and the government was importing consignments of the vaccine for the purpose, the official said. 
Shah requested fully vaccinated individuals to get the booster jab and advised those who were yet to get the basic vaccination to get themselves fully immunized against the virus. 
The development came a day after Pakistan imposed a complete ban on travel from seven countries after the emergence of the Omicron strain in South Africa. These countries included South Africa, Hong Kong, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana. 
The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the country’s central pandemic body, has asked aviation authorities to devise a mechanism for the screening of passengers traveling from these states through indirect flights. 
It said Pakistani passengers would be allowed to travel after obtaining emergency exemptions and following certain requirements, including a vaccination certificate, negative PCR report and rapid antigen test on arrival.