Pakistan announces phased Covid-19 vaccination for the youth

Dunya News

Pakistan announces phased Covid-19 vaccination for the youth

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - It was announced Monday that the process of vaccinating young citizens against Covid-19 will be started in phases. Next month, more of the country’s population will be vaccinated.

Talking to media after inauguration of a vaccination center in Islamabad, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan informed about the government’s decision and said that it is ensuring uninterrupted supply of vaccines as planned.

The Special Assistant said that vaccines were being administered in a systematic manner while the government was also buying vaccines for the citizens. He appealed the public to follow the SOPs to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Special Assistant asked all the registered citizens to get their vaccination done at their respective centers. He said till now nine hundred thousand people have been vaccinated.

On the other hand, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Dr. Noshin Hamid said that Pakistan has received more than 900,000 doses of Covid 19 vaccine and those who choose to get vaccinated at government centers can do so free of charge.

She said the registration process has started for people over the age of 50, while the vaccination campaign for people over the age of 60 and frontline health workers was already underway.

"We are accelerating this process and want to take it to a stage where a large number of Pakistanis will be vaccinated to help prevent the spread of the virus," she added.

She said the government was currently providing free vaccines to citizens and some of the certified private hospitals had also been given permission to administer Russian-made Sputnik-V vaccines.

Dr. Noshin Hamid said that registration of the public for vaccination was slow at the beginning but now, people are slowly becoming aware and getting registered. About 78% of people have registered at government vaccination centers, she added.