ISLAMABAD: Pakistani doctors on Friday urged the government to expedite the coronavirus vaccination drive across the country to protect people against COVID-19 and keep the national economy operational.
Pakistan started its immunization campaign in February and has so far administered 16.3 million doses. It aims to inoculate about 65 million people by the end of the year, which doctors and experts say will only be possible if the government increases the pace of its vaccination drive since it is the only way to decisively defeat the virus.
“As the daily infection rate has dropped, it is time to vaccinate a maximum number of people before a new wave of the pandemic sets in,” Dr. Qaisar Sajjad, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, told Arab News on Friday, adding that the government should start mobile vaccination service to reach as many people as possible on a daily basis, especially in the rural areas where people face transportation problems and cannot always reach designated vaccine centers in cities.
“The government also needs to improve the vaccine supply at the designated facilities and create awareness about the benefits of COVID-19 jabs,” he continued.
The country’s population breakdown shows that more than 125 million people are above the age of 18 and therefore eligible for vaccination in Pakistan. In Punjab, 66 million people are eligible while in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan this number stands at 27.5 million, 19 million and 6.4 million respectively.
About 2.7 million citizens of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 1.4 million people of Islamabad and 1.1 million residents of Gilgit-Baltistan are also eligible for the vaccine.
According to the official data available with Arab News, Punjab has administered 8.8 million doses so far at its 669 COVID-19 vaccine centers.
Hammad Raza Bukhari, a spokesperson for the Punjab health department, told Arab News that daily vaccination target in the province was 250,000 shots, claiming that provincial authorities were administering over 200,000 doses daily.
Sindh province has administered over 3.6 million doses with 10.33 percent of total coverage. Documents show the daily coverage percentage in the province was well below the target of 16.8 percent.
Mehar Khursheed, a spokesperson for the Sindh health department, said the provincial government was trying to increase daily vaccination through social mobilization and by making shots mandatory for schoolteachers and people working in shopping malls, industries and the transportation sector.
“Mobile vaccination service is already in action,” she said. “We are vaccinating people in the far-flung areas through mobile units by using single dose CanSino.”
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has administered 1.8 million doses to date, with 7.76 percent of the targeted population covered.
The government allocated $1.2 billion for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines during this fiscal year.
Pakistani doctors urge government to increase pace of COVID-19 vaccination campaign
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Pakistani doctors urge government to increase pace of COVID-19 vaccination campaign
- Over 125 million people are eligible for coronavirus vaccination in Pakistan but government has only administered 16.3 million doses to date
- 66 million people are eligible in Punjab, 27.5 million in Sindh, 19 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 6.4 million in Balochistan
Pakistan invites Bangladesh’s new prime minister for official visit in post-election outreach
- Planning minister Ahsan Iqbal attends swearing-in in Dhaka, proposes reviving regional cooperation
- Islamabad offers scholarships, connectivity and academic exchanges to expand bilateral ties with Dhaka
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formally invited Bangladesh’s newly elected prime minister, Tarique Rahman, to visit Islamabad, its information ministry said on Wednesday after senior minister Ahsan Iqbal met the new premier in Dhaka following the oath-taking ceremony.
The outreach signals a cautious attempt by the two South Asian nations to improve relations decades after the 1971 war that led to Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, with diplomatic engagement historically limited and economic links underdeveloped compared with regional potential.
After former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted during the 2024 political upheaval and fled to India, relations between Dhaka and Islamabad began to normalize after years of near-frozen contact. For over a decade under Hasina’s Awami League government, Bangladesh had aligned closely with India and kept Pakistan at diplomatic arm’s length.
The political shift in Dhaka — culminating in the 2026 election victory of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Tarique Rahman — created space for engagement, including the relaunch of direct flights, high-level political and military exchanges, technical cooperation and business ties. The reset reflects broader regional dynamics: Bangladesh diversifying its diplomacy beyond India, and Pakistan seeking economic partnerships in South Asia amid a geo-economic foreign policy push.
“Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal conveyed a formal invitation from the Prime Minister of Pakistan to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to undertake an official visit to Pakistan at a mutually convenient date,” a Pakistani information ministry statement said, quoting Iqbal who represented Islamabad at the oath taking.
“The two leaders discussed avenues to reinvigorate bilateral relations and enhance regional cooperation.”
The two sides discussed expanding cooperation in education, research and digital governance, including a proposed “Pakistan–Bangladesh Knowledge Corridor” to promote academic partnerships and student exchanges.
Islamabad said it had allocated 500 scholarships for Bangladeshi students, with 75 already traveling to Pakistan for higher education, and proposed closer coordination between national data and statistics institutions in both countries.
Officials also discussed improving direct flight connectivity to boost trade, tourism and business links, as well as cooperation in small and medium-sized industries and technology-enabled services.
The statement added that both sides supported stronger cultural engagement, including joint celebrations next year marking the 150th birth anniversary of philosopher-poet Muhammad Iqbal.
Both countries reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening ties and promoting regional stability and economic cooperation, the statement added.
