LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said Friday that 3.5 million people had been vaccinated in Punjab so far since the vaccination drive started nearly two months ago.
Talking to media, here today, she said the government was striving to vaccinate both teachers and non-teaching staff because it did not want the schools to be shut again because of teachers contracting the corona virus.
Answering a question, she said the first vaccine dose did not guarantee the production of antibodies and asked the people follow all health precautions until after getting their second dose. However, she said a person could get Covid-19 even after getting vaccinated, but the jab would reduce the severity of the disease and prove to be potentially life-saving.
The minister urged the public to wait patiently and maintain discipline at the vaccination centres, reassuring them enough vaccine was available.
She cited the strict implementation of corona virus standard operating procedures (SOPs) as the reason behind declining cases of virus in the province. She said the number of Covid-19 patients who were being discharged and sent home was now greater than the number of patients being admitted to hospitals.
Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas said on the occasion that the schools are going to be commenced from June 7 and urged teachers in Lahore to get vaccinated. The minister said the vaccination centre would inoculate the teaching and non-teaching staff of both public and private schools, noting that there were 16,000 teachers and 4,000 non-teaching staff in Lahore. "I request all teachers of public and private schools and non-teaching staff to get vaccinated before June 7 because we are going to open schools on June 7," Raas said, adding: "The provincial government would open similar vaccination centres in the nine divisional headquarters in order to inoculate the maximum number of teachers."
To a query, he said the teachers would be prioritized at any vaccination centre for public if they went there with their documents. With four counters, the Wahdat Road vaccination facility has the capacity to inoculate 1,500 people daily.
On the other hand, Parliamentary Secretary Health Dr. Nausheen Hamid said in an interview that so far 10 percent population of the country has been vaccinated against COVID-19. "Vaccination process would be boost in coming days to protect the precious lives," she said, adding "The number of positive corona virus cases decreasing day by day due to effective steps against pandemic virus." She said the government is taking various steps for maximum vaccination of population and by 2021 around 70 million people would be vaccinated as per target.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021