LAHORE: The shortage of Covid-19 vaccine has forced the health authorities to close a few vaccination centres apart from halting the process in Lahore while some others in the rest of the province may also face closure.
Following the shortage of the vaccine, the health authorities have closed down the vaccination centres established at the Lahore Press Club and the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) while at some other centres the vaccination process was halted.
The provincial health authorities are making efforts to ensure smooth supply of vaccine so as the vaccination process could be resumed at full pace.
It may be noted that the Punjab government has increased the Covid vaccination centres to 657 across the province, including 57 in Lahore. The process of administering Astra Zenica vaccine to the people below the age of 40 years to facilitate people intending to go abroad has been started. Directions have been issued to administer Astra Zenica vaccine to people needing it. However, the people at Expo Centre had to wait for long hours to get vaccination of Astra Zenica. Some people returned without getting vaccinated, Naveed, a resident of Johar Town, said.
The vaccines available to the government are Sinopharm, SinoVac, Astra Zeneca and CanSino. Vaccine of only one kind will be administered at a time. Right now, the administration of SinoVac has started at all centres set up by the government, the sources said, adding: “The formulation and packaging of the Chinese CanSino vaccine was being done at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad.”
Sources in health department claimed that the vaccine supply situation will be normal within a few days and all the vaccination centres will work at full pace.
Punjab Health Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid in a meeting said, “Punjab has 13,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine, which will be administered to immune compromised people on priority basis. The people must not worry about vaccine availability, in all THQ hospitals vaccine is being administered round the clock.”
On the other hand, Director-General, Punjab Emergency Service Dr Rizwan Naseer reviewed the flood preparedness arrangements during the ongoing Corona Pandemic in flood-prone districts of Punjab. While presiding over a meeting at Rescue Headquarters on Wednesday, he directed all the DEOs to depute water rescue teams at the vulnerable points for water or flood emergencies where the public go for swimming or recreational activities in hot summer. He directed them to ensure that motorboats and other related equipment are functional, organize Emergency Evacuation Drills with reference to COVID emergency as large scale evacuation would need the shelter and camps, where people could ensure social distancing, sanitation and hygiene facilities, provision of masks, soaps, and hand sanitizer to prevent infection transmission.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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