COVID-19: Pakistan healthcare staff to get vaccine from tomorrow

Islamabad: With the arrival of 2.8 million doses of Oxford Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine in early March, Pakistan is all set to start vaccination of people aged 65 and above from March 2 while registration and inoculation of healthcare workers other than frontline workers is also beginning from Monday, Feb 22.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan in a tweet on Sunday announced all “not just frontline” health workers will be receiving jabs after registration.

He further explained by ‘all’ the health workers he meant nurses, dentists, doctors, pharmacists, allied health professionals (eg physical therapists, lab technologists and others) and also, those who work in clinical settings, in direct contact with patients (eg security, receptionists, porters, cashiers, cleaning staff, ambulance drivers).

According to the SAPM, the age group of over 65 years is being given priority because the majority of deaths, out of 12,601 till date, have been reported in the same age group.

Registration is open from February 15 and people should get their parents registered for vaccination.

They will be vaccinated with Oxford AstraZeneca, which is being administered in 34 countries, including the United Kingdom. We will get 17m doses by June,” he added.

PM’s top aide on health has also requested all those 60 years of age and older to get themselves registered. The government is expecting more doses of vaccine—504,000 already dispatched to provinces, Islamabad, Gilgit Baltistan and Pakistan Administered Kashmir—the government has decided to include the 60-year old group in the phase-2 recipients of jabs.

“Now that we have expected the arrival of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in early March, all those 60 years of age and older requested to begin registration. Send CNIC as SMS to 1166. You will receive a reply with instructions on next steps,” the SAPM has informed.

Situation under control

According to the National Health Ministry, since 18 days have passed and there is no increase in cases of COVID-19 the situation seems to be under control and as the temperature is rising and inoculation is picking up it is going to improve in the coming days.

Pakistan on Sunday reported another 38 deaths and 1,329 new cases of COVID-19 during the previous 24 hours. According to the official portal of the National Health Ministry, 905 patients were recovered also during the period. With these latest figures, the country’s number of infections have surged to 571,174 and death toll 12,601 while the total number of recoveries are also more than 534,107. Pakistan’s active cases on Sunday stood at 24,466 and critical cases at 1,616.

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