SAPM on Health – Dr Faisal Sultan has rebuked rumors regarding COVID-19 vaccine shortage in the country, reassuring that the vaccine availability will improve after June 20th.
Addressing a press briefing in Islamabad, SAPM Dr Faisal Sultan apprised that the country has more than 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in stock and additional supply is being redirected towards vaccination centers which have reported an increased demand.
Till now, 12 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered across Pakistan, said Dr Faisal Sultan.
The SAPM highlighted that the country has more than 2,000 COVID-19 vaccination centers with varying number of people resorting to these facilities, it is possible that some vaccination centers might face a temporary vaccine shortage.
We are ensuring that vaccine supply is redirected and that vaccine shortage at one facility is duly addressed via supply from another vaccination center, he noted.
Furthermore, SAPM Dr Faisal Sultan remarked that there was no harm if the second dose of vaccine was delayed by six to eight weeks instead of a routine three to four-week duration in between jabs.
SAPM also urged the public to strictly adhere to COVID-19 SOPs and preventive measures such as use of face masks and hand sanitizers.
COVID-19 SOPs are still relevant and necessary with the vaccine availability today as they were before, he added.
The development comes as Karachi, Lahore and various cities in Punjab reported significant vaccine shortage on Tuesday a day earlier.
The vaccine shortage forced the authorities to only administer coronavirus vaccine to people who have already got their first jab and are coming to vaccination centers for their second vaccine dose.
Pakistan is currently utilizing a total of six COVID-19 vaccines namely Sinopharm, CansinoBio, Sputnik V, Oxford AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sinovac to carryout nation-wide inoculation drive against the novel virus.
As per NCOC statistics, 6,201,219 people have been partially vaccinated against COVID-19 with 3,107,671 people being fully vaccinated against the novel virus with the country administering a total of 11,745,889 COVID-19 vaccine doses in total.
Pakistan’s total COVID-19 tally stands at 944,065 cases with 21,828 deaths so far. A total of 882,332 people have successfully recovered from the novel virus, whereas 2,490 are still in critical condition.
