COVID-19: Pakistan all set to vaccinate 300,000 health workers as campaign kicks off tomorrow
- Faisal says that the process to vaccinate health workers will take two to three weeks
- In the second phase, elderly people over 65 years of age will be vaccinated after which the vaccine would be made available to the public
(Karachi) Prime Minister’s Special Adviser on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan has said that more than 300,000 frontline health care workers will be administered COVID-19 vaccine within the next three weeks, Arab News reported.
The SAPM's statement comes a day after the first batch of Sinopharm's coronavirus vaccine doses reached Pakistan from Beijing. The official rollout of the vaccine campaign will start from Wednesday (February 3).
Faisal said that the process to vaccinate health workers will take two to three weeks. At least, 300,000 frontline health workers have been registered through a digital system. They will be vaccinated in the first phase of the vaccine campaign, followed by elderly people, over 65 years of age, who will be vaccinated in the second phase, after which the vaccine would be made available to the public.
The government has also given approval to AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine and is expected to receive another tranche of 17 million doses. In a tweet, Sultan said: “Happy to share that in addition to the 500,000 doses of Sinopharm, almost 7 million doses of AstraZeneca to be made available in Q1 and given to the public free of cost! Pakistan’s vaccine drive starts next week, beginning with frontline healthcare workers.”
Pakistan approved AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, making it the first coronavirus vaccine to get the green light for use in the South Asian country.
Faisal said that DRAP granted emergency use authorisation to AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine. He stated, “We are pleased to announce that the government of Pakistan, through Covax facility, has secured 17 million indicated doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, out of which 35-40pc (6-6.8 million) doses will be available within the first quarter and the rest in the second quarter of 2021.”
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said that all arrangements for storage, transportation and administration of the vaccine have been finalised. It said all measures for vaccine distribution across Sindh and Balochistan provinces have also been completed.
Comments
Comments are closed.