Amid shortage, Sindh decides to close vaccination centres on Sunday

Karachi: Amid shortage of coronavirus vaccines in the province, Sindh has decided that vaccination centres will remain closed on Sunday.

Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah presided on Saturday over the task force on Covid-19, attended by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Education Minister Saeed Ghani, Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, Advisor to CM Murtaza Wahab and other officials.

During the meeting, the CM was informed that Sindh will receive 1.5 million Sinovac doses on June 21 and 700,000 doses of CanSino vaccine on June 23. The meeting was also informed that on June 23, the province will receive 400,000 doses of PakVac, while Sputnik V vaccine will be received at the end of June.

At 1.9%, Pakistan reports lowest Covid-19 positivity ratio this year

Earlier, the chief minister refuted reports that vaccination centres had been closed in Karachi, saying that only the timings had been reduced. Since the past week, mass vaccination centres in Karachi and Lahore have been facing a shortage of coronavirus vaccines.

In Expo Centre Karachi, sources were quoted on DAWN as saying that Sinovac and Sinopharm were not available for the first dose, while only AstraZeneca was available for the initial dose. As shortage of vaccines hit the country, the federal government also decided to import 27.5 million vaccines. These include 23 million doses of Sinopharm, 2.5 million doses of Sinovac, and two million doses of CanSinoBio.

So far, over 55,720 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in Sindh. Overall, Pakistan has vaccinated more than 12 million people against the novel coronavirus.

Govt to import 27.5m doses of anti-corona vaccine due to shortage

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said Pakistan aimed to vaccinate 100 million people by the end of fiscal year 2021-22, announcing that $1.1 billion will be allocated to the procurement of vaccines.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has continued to see a downward trend in its daily cases and deaths. During the last 24 hours, 991 coronavirus cases and 37 deaths were reported while the positivity ratio was recorded at 2.14%.

The total number of recoveries in Pakistan has reached 889,787. On June 18, the country reported its lowest positivity ration this year at 1.9%.

Karachi, Lahore vaccination centres face Covid jab shortage