(Karachi) Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar has said that the vaccination of people aged 60 years and above against the novel coronavirus will start from March 10 (Wednesday).

In a tweet on Sunday, Umar said: “Vaccinations will be done in reverse order by age. Which means the oldest person who has registered will be vaccinated first." He added that full details will be issued tomorrow.

Earlier, National Health Service (NHS) Secretary Amir Ashraf Khawaja said that the government aims to tackle the Covid-19 health challenge through herd immunity and donated vaccines as it has no plan to buy vaccines at least during the current year.

The NHS secretary informed the Public Accounts Committee that Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm had committed to providing one million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, saying that 0.5m doses had been handed over to Pakistan, out of which around 275,000 doses had been administered to health professionals dealing with Covid-19 patients.

He said the second phase would cover the health officials working in other hospitals and health facilities, adding that the people aged 65 years and above could also register themselves for vaccination by sending a text message to 1166.

He said Pakistan had planned to vaccinate 70 million people this year.