ISLAMABAD: Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province in terms of population, vaccinated over 12 million people in just 16 days against COVID-19, the country’s planning minister said in a tweet on Monday.
Pakistan reported less than 300 COVID-19 cases for the third straight day on Monday. Officials say the COVID-19 curve has flattened in Pakistan due to an aggressive vaccination drive carried out by the government, with over 119 million people having received at least one dose of a vaccine.
Planning Minister Asad Umar congratulated Punjab’s provincial health minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid in a tweet for a successful ‘reach every door’ (RED) campaign.
“In just 16 days, more than 1.25 crore [12.5 million] people were vaccinated. There were 22 thousand people involved in carrying out this massive campaign,” he said.
Pakistan faced initial vaccination hesitancy and a shortage of supplies but started a mass vaccination campaign in February which picked up speed by May.
It has relied heavily on neighboring China for vaccine supplies with three out of six approved does coming from Chinese producers: Sinopharm, SinoVac and CanSinoBio.
According to official data compiled by the National Command and Operations Center, the country’s top pandemic body, Pakistan has recorded 240 new coronavirus cases and 6 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Data shows that 1,111 patients are still in critical care.
Eastern Punjab province’s population stands at 110 million people, which is roughly half of Pakistan’s total population.
