Pakistan on Wednesday (today) initiated second phase of nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive for the people aged 60 and above.
As per details, the second nationwide inoculation campaign will focus on people who are aged 60 or above, as they’re more vulnerable to the novel virus.
Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has said that senior citizens who have registered themselves for vaccination, will receive instructions via SMS with oldest being priority.
Most senior citizens will be the first ones to receive COVID-19 vaccine, said SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan.
People above the age of 60 can get themselves registered via sending a text message at 1166 or can visit National Immunization Management System (NIMS) website.
The development comes as earlier Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had approved the use of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for people above the age of 60 years in the country.
It is pertinent to know that Pakistan launched its first 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.
Meanwhile, it is to be noted that Pakistan will be receiving 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine under ‘COVAX’ initiative of World Health Organization (WHO). COVAX initiative will see a total of 238.2 million vaccine doses being distributed among various countries across the world.
Pakistan is also expected to receive 500,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from China’s state-run pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.