Over 52000 healthcare workers received coronavirus vaccine: Dr Faisal
Dr Faisal said Pakistan will get 2.8 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses in 1st COVAX donation
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan on Thursday said that more than that more than 52,000 frontline healthcare workers have received the coronavirus vaccine in Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday, he said that Pakistan will receive 2.8 million doses of AstraZeneca s coronavirus vaccine on March 2 as the first batch of a donation from the international COVAX programme.
The SAPM said that the consignment will be used in a public vaccination programme for people aged over 60.
He urged people above 65 years to get themselves registered for the vaccine as they were "an important part of the society".
Pakistan this month started the vaccination drive with 500,000 doses of Sinopharm s vaccine donated by long-time ally China.
He said Pakistan was one of only 65 countries that had started vaccinating as 130 others, including developed countries like Australia had not been able to administer even a single dose.
He said the government had launched the vaccination drive across Pakistan on February 3. Procuring the vaccine and launching the drive was not an easy task.
“We began by vaccinating only frontline healthcare workers. We have been asked why only frontline healthcare workers were made eligible in the first phase so it’s important to remember they risk their and their families’ lives every single day and they don’t have the opportunity to practice social distance and thousands of them contracted the virus.”
He said 132 frontline healthcare workers had lost their lives in the line of duty. “I salute your courage and determination and I encourage you to get vaccinated to protect yourself and your loved ones from this disease.”
Dr Faisal said, “We’re also proud of the robust systems developed by Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and National Immunization Management System (NIMS). We’ll continue to make the process even more smooth for citizens.”
He announced that in order to speed up the process even more and make it even easier for frontline healthcare workers to get vaccinated, frontline healthcare workers under 60 already registered in central RMS as per the criteria, could now simply message their CNIC number to 1166 and visit the nearest Adult Vaccination Center as per their convenience.
