The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has approved the use of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for people above the age of 60 years in the country.
DRAP has approved the use of Chinese made Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for people that are aged 60 or above. The approval comes two months after Sinopharm vaccine was given the greenlight for emergency use to vaccinate healthcare workers in Pakistan.
Healthcare workers who are 60 or above are now eligible to receive the vaccine, whereas those who haven’t registered themselves yet can get registered at the given website.
people can also send their CNIC numbers at 1166 to sign up for the COVID-19 vaccination.
The development comes as Pakistan is set to receive its second batch of COVID-19 vaccine from China’s state-run pharmaceutical company Sinopharm. Pakistan is likely to receive 500,000 vaccine doses in near future.
Earlier, SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had apprised that out of the total 400,000 healthcare workers, 140,000 had received COVID-19 vaccine.
SAPM had acknowledged that healthcare workers are hesitant to be inoculated against the novel virus due to several misconceptions and fake news being circulated on electronic and social media platforms.
It is pertinent to know that Pakistan launched nationwide COVID-19 vaccination process on February 3rd after receiving 500,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from China’s Sinopharm on February 1st.
The COVID-19 vaccination drive was launched simultaneously in federal capital along with provincial capitals namely Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar.
