ISLAMABAD: Pakistani planning minister Asad Umar said on Wednesday Pakistan would start registering people aged 65 and above so they could be vaccinated in the second phase of the coronavirus vaccine drive.
Pakistan launched its COVID-19 vaccine drive last Tuesday at a ceremony in the capital attended by Prime Minister Imran Khan in which a doctor was the first in the country to receive the shot.
The government plans to vaccinate 0.5 million health care workers in the three-week-long first phase of its vaccine campaign, with 578 designated centers established across the country with a daily capacity to handle 40,000 people.
In the next phase, 17 million of the “most vulnerable” people, including 9.5 million above 65 years of age, would be given shots.
“Inshallah will be opening up registration next week for covid vaccination for those 65 years and above,” Umar said on Twitter. “The vaccination of those who register in this category will start in March.”
Inshallah will be opening up registration next week for covid vaccination for those 65 years and above. The vaccination of those who register in this category will start in march
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) February 10, 2021
Last Monday Pakistan received 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine for free from China and is expecting to get additional doses before the current supply runs out.
On Tuesday, Russia’s Sputnik-V has become the third COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by Pakistan for emergency use after Sinopharm and the ones developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
A fourth vaccine candidate, developed by CanSino Biologics Inc. (CanSinoBIO), has also completed clinical trials in the South Asian nation of 220 million people, showing 65.7% efficacy in symptomatic cases and a 90.98% success rate in severe cases in an interim analysis of global trials, Pakistani health chief Dr. Faisal Sultan said on Monday.
