Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar announced on Wednesday that registration for coronavirus vaccination for those 65 years and above will be opening next week.
In his tweet, the minister said that vaccination of those who register in this category will start in March. On February 3, Pakistan began its vaccination drive which aims to inoculate over one million healthcare workers with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had approved the Chinese state-owned firm's vaccine for emergency use last month.
DRAP has so far approved Sinopharm's vaccine, Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, and the vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca. Meanwhile, COVAX has said that 17 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be provided to Pakistan in the first half of 2021. Around 7million will be available by March.
Since the outbreak of the novel virus last year, Pakistan has confirmed 557,591 cases and 12,128 deaths. Currently, there are 30,512 active COVID-19 cases in the country. Meanwhile, 514,951 people have also recovered from the virus.