Fake entries of coronavirus vaccine: 16 arrested, 12 cases registered in eight Punjab cities so far

LAHORE: While taking action against the officials involved in fake entries of coronavirus vaccine, the Punjab government arrested 16 persons and registered 12 cases in eight cities so far. These cities include Sialkot, Vehari, Rahim Yar Khan, Lodhran, Lahore, Faisalabad, Chiniot and Multan. This was disclosed during a meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal here on Friday.

The secretaries of information and special secretary specialized health departments, CCPO Lahore and senior civil and military officials attended the meeting while all the divisional commissioners participated through video link. The meeting reviewed the coronavirus pandemic, medical facilities in hospitals and pace of vaccination.

While addressing the meeting, the Chief Secretary said that the vaccination campaign is a national cause and those who register fake vaccines do not deserve any leniency. He directed the divisional commissioners to play their role in achieving the national goal by meeting the vaccination targets. He said that in extraordinary circumstances officers have to work harder to perform their duties.

Asking the officers to raise awareness about importance and efficacy of vaccine, he said that the only solution to ward off the virus is the vaccination and implementation of the Standards Operating Procedures (SOPs). "It is evident from the data the vaccine was highly effective against the virus and that 79 percent of hospitalized patients were unvaccinated. The condition of patients who get one dose is even better than that of those who did not," he added.

He said that the government was well aware of the economic losses caused by the pandemic and for business activities restrictions would be relaxed in the light of the NCOC guidelines.

The Punjab Primary Health Secretary briefed the meeting that on average more than 517,000 people are being vaccinated on daily basis across the province. He said that there is ample stock of vaccine in the province and vaccination of people between the ages of 15 to 17 years has been started as per the guidelines of NCOC. "So far, the first dose of the vaccine has been given to 31.6 million people in the province, while both doses have been administered to 11 million people," he said.

"The rate of positive cases of the coronvirus in three cities Lahore, Sargodha and Muzaffargarh is more than eight percent at present," he said

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021