We vaccinate our children without hesitation. However, when it comes to adults, the same urgency disappears entirely. Pakistan faces a quiet but growing crisis. Many adults over fifty, often already managing diabetes, hypertension or heart disease, remain completely unprotected against vaccine-preventable illnesses like influenza, pneumonia and shingles. These are not minor ailments. They hospitalise, disable and kill. The cost of this neglect is not only medical.
Every adult bedridden by a preventable illness means lost income, strained families and added pressure on an already overburdened health system. We must start taking adult immunisation seriously. Prevention is always cheaper than the cure and Pakistan cannot afford to keep learning that lesson the hard way.
Usama Ghulam Rasool
Karachi
