One would've thought two jabs of the Sinopharm vaccine would be sufficient for protection against Covid. But no, now we're told that booster jabs are required. So we had no option but to go for the Pfizer booster, as the government didn't have the Chinese one in stock. Even though I've suspected that the Pfizer one is not so effective as many U.S. nationals have received it and are still being hospitalized, I ignored my gut instinct and opted for Pfizer. And within minutes I was shaking uncontrollably and had fever for the next twenty four hours. And the same thing happened to my wife. So I'm wondering if it isn't a scam, forcing people to get vaccinated, knowing that it will not provide full protection, and one will have to go on taking jabs every few months to avoid getting hospitalized.

I remember how worried I was with the thought of contracting Hepatitis-C in Saudi Arabia. When I gave a plastic bottle of Dettol to the Punjabi barber shaving my head, he threw away the bottle, saying, "You'll get infected if it's in your stars". This is what most Pakistanis believe, which is why I strongly doubt the official Covid deaths reported daily in the country. For all we know, instead of 2 or 3 people dying of Covid, the actual number could well be much higher, seeing that most people are hesitant to get themselves tested (the test costs up to Rs. 8,000, which is much higher than a common Pakistani can afford). But then, there are so many things the government tells us that are not true, so I'm afraid we'll have to live with it.

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