Federal Minister for Planning and Development – Asad Umar has announced that another 500,000 COVID-19 vaccines will reach Pakistan by tonight.
The National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) has apprised that Pakistan will receive another 0.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by tonight.
Recieved 5 lakh 60 thousand procured vaccines yesterday. Another 5 lakhs will arrive tonight. Reviewed the vaccine administration situation in NCOC today and asked the provinces to increase the pace of vaccination to fully utilize the vaccines which have been made available
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) April 1, 2021
The latest shipment of COVID-19 vaccine comes as earlier Pakistan received 56,000 COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday a day earlier.
Out of the total 56,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, 50,000 were manufactured by China’s state owned National Pharmaceutical Group — or Sinopharm and was received by SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan at Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi.
Whereas the other 60,000 doses were in fact the first shipment of single-dose COVID-19 vaccine received by Pakistan manufactured by China’s CanSino Biologics. The single-dose Convidecia COVID-19 vaccine will be only administered only to people over 80 years of age as per instructions from the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) via separate Adult Vaccination Centers (AVCs).
It is pertinent to know that Pakistan launched its first COVID-19 vaccination programme 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 the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination was launched on March 10th. The second phase of COVID-19 inoculation will focus on people who are aged 60 or above, as they’re more vulnerable to the novel virus.
According to Ministry of National Health Services, people above the age of 60 can get themselves registered via sending a text message at 1166 or can visit (NIMS) website.
