ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), which oversees the country’s pandemic response, decided on Wednesday to allow people aged 19 years and above to register for the government’s coronavirus vaccination program from Thursday.
“In today’s NCOC meeting we decided to open up vaccination registration for all 19 years and above,” planning minister Asad Umar announced in a Twitter post. “This registration will start from tomorrow. So now registration will be open for the entire national population which is approved by health experts for covid vaccination.”
Pakistan has so far inoculated 5,358,808 people since the beginning of its immunization drive in February.
The program prioritized frontline health workers and senior citizens at the outset but has gradually opened up for everyone.
According to the country’s official Covid portal, 2,857,746 people have received their first shots while 1,286,429 are fully vaccinated.
Pakistan has also started local production of China’s single-dose CanSino vaccine, and the National Institute of Health plans to roll out three million of its jabs every month to reduce the country’s dependence on imported shots.
