ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will start Covid-19 Vaccination of people aged 65 years and above from March.
National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) chief Asad Umar in a tweet on Wednesday made the announcement stated that the Vaccination of people aged 65 years and above will begin from March. “Inshallah will be opening up registration next week for covid vaccination for those 65 years and above. The vaccination of those who register in this category will start in March.”
Earlier, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar also chaired a meeting of NCOC to review the pandemic situation and ongoing vaccination drive against novel coronavirus.
According to NCOC, the vaccination of frontline healthcare workers is underway across the country. The officials observed that the procedures for Covid vaccination drive devised by the health authorities are not being fully implemented. The prescribed procedures had been shared with the stakeholders before the launching of the vaccination campaign; however, violations were spotted by the authorities. The provincial government has been instructed once again to fully implement the vaccination guidelines. “Provinces have completed the registration of frontline healthcare workers to maintain transparency and only registered healthcare officials will be administered vaccines,” he said.
Previously, China donated a COVID-19 vaccine for Pakistan’s armed forces, after which it became the world’s first foreign military to receive vaccine assistance from the Chinese military.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Monday that: “People’s Liberation Army (PLA), People’s Republic of China has donated COVID-19 vaccine for Pakistan Armed Forces.”
However, keeping with the Pakistan Armed Forces’ traditional spirit of ‘nation comes first, always and every time’ ISPR said: “It has been decided to contribute complete vaccine donation, by PLA to Pakistan military, in the National vaccine drive to be administered to front line healthcare workers across Pakistan who are real heroes fighting against pandemic and Saving precious lives.”
The military’s media wing said that Pakistan’s Armed forces extend their deepest gratitude to PLA and People’s Republic of China for this magnanimous donation during testing times.
Pakistan also received the first batch of the Covid-19 vaccine, also donated by China. The 500,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine were donated by Chinese President Xi Jinping and arrived at the Nur Khan Airbase with the help of a Pakistan Air Force aircraft. Pakistan has asked China for another one million doses.
Pakistan is also set to receive 17 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine under a global scheme to deliver coronavirus treatments to developing nations. About 6 million doses will arrive by the end of March under the COVAX scheme, with the remainder due by mid-year, SAPM on Health Faisal Sultan announced last week. Pakistan was also the first country in the world to receive vaccines donated by the Chinese government.
A countrywide Covid vaccination drive started last Wednesday. Of the 0.5 million doses, Sindh was provided 84,000, Punjab 70,000, KP 65,000, and Balochistan 10,300 doses.
