ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday rolled out a COVID-19 vaccination campaign for children aged five to 11 in a bid to inoculate maximum number of individuals and curb the spread of the virus.

Federal Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel inaugurated the campaign which will take place in the federal capital, Islamabad, along with some other districts of the country’s Punjab and Sindh provinces.

According to the official data, Pakistan has administered full doses of the coronavirus vaccine to over 131 million individuals above 12 years of age. The country has reported 72 confirmed COVID-19 cases with one death in the last 24 hours and a positivity ratio of 0.54 percent.

“Children like adults can transfer the coronavirus to others in case of infection even when they don’t have the disease symptoms,” said the health minister while inaugurating the campaign in Islamabad. “The vaccine would be administered to children with complete consent of their parents.”

Ever since it diagnosed the first case of the disease two-and-a-half years ago, Pakistan has reported over 1.5 million coronavirus cases and more than 30,000 deaths.

The health minister said the vaccinators would visit schools and religious seminaries to jab children while door-to-door campaigns would also be initiated to achieve the target.

“The basic purpose of the vaccination is to protect the entire Pakistani nation against the virus,” he said.

Patel maintained the vaccine was completely safe and constituted the best way to curb the infectious disease.

The first phase of the vaccination would take place from September 19 to 25 in a handful of districts.

In Punjab, the districts that would be covered during this period include Faisalabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Okara and Bahawalpur. In Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, the authorities would vaccinate children in Karachi and Hyderabad districts during the first phase.

The government plans to carry out the vaccination campaign in different stages. In the first phase, it has selected districts where the recent floods have not caused much devastation.

All children in the 5-11 years age bracket would be administered half a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which amounts to 0.2-milliliter or the quantity recommended by health authorities worldwide.

Health officials have also advised parents to make sure while getting their children vaccinated that the vial has an orange color cap and label on it.

The children will be administered two doses for full protection against the virus with an interval of 21 to 56 days after the first dose.

“Both the doses are important for maximum protection,” the minister said. “Parents should ensure the vaccination of their children at the earliest.”