ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday began inoculating citizens with the US-donated Moderna vaccine to facilitate travel to countries accepting specific brands of the anti-coronavirus jabs.

The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the federal body dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, has designated 49 vaccination centers across the country for the purpose.

Around 2.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine arrived in Pakistan on Friday, the US embassy in Islamabad said.

In a Twitter post on Saturday, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, said that Pakistan would use the Moderna vaccines to inoculate “particularly those who have to travel for work or study to countries which are only accepting certain vaccines.”

He also thanked US President Joe Biden for his “progressive policy” after the American leader vowed to deliver 80 million doses of the vaccine to the rest of the world by June-end.

In a joint statement on Sunday, the UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO) in Pakistan thanked Washington for its “generous donation” to Islamabad.

“WHO applauds Pakistan’s achievement of effectively scaling up its vaccination campaign across the country. The available COVID-19 vaccines have been equitably distributed and have reached even the remotest areas of Pakistan, protecting millions,” Dr. Palitha Mahipala, WHO representative in Pakistan, said in a statement.

He added that the WHO would continue to support Pakistan “to swiftly and safely administer the donated doses of vaccines and advocate with Covax partners for the provision of sufficient vaccines to reach all vulnerable populations.”

Meanwhile, Aida Girma, UNICEF’s representative in Pakistan, vowed to ensure an “efficient and effective roll-out of the vaccination campaign through procurement services of essential COVID-19 supplies” in the country.

The statement added that strict compliance of COVID-19 safety measures “remains crucial to curb the spread of the virus.”

The Covax facility, backed by the WHO and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), aims to secure 2 billion vaccine doses for lower-income countries by the end of 2021.

Pakistan, a country of 220 million people, has administered only 17.3 million coronavirus vaccine doses.