ISLAMABAD: Covid-19 vaccine shots have been administered to more than 100,000 frontline healthcare workers across the country, the government said on Thursday.
Speaking to a news channel, Dr Nausheen Hamid, parliamentary secretary for health, said that health workers, who are at the forefront of the country’s fight against the pandemic, were administered the vaccine in the first phase.
Nausheen said that the process of the registration of citizens aged 65 years and above is underway, urging people to get themselves registered for the drive.
She said that the situation will further improve with the arrival of more doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The government launched a nationwide vaccination campaign on February 3, with more than 400,000 doctors and frontline healthcare workers, teachers and social workers being covered in the first phase because they run the highest risk of exposure to the contagious disease.
As per the roll-out plan, the second phase, due to start from March 1, will focus exclusively on citizens over the age of 65, who generally face a higher mortality risk from the virus, and all remaining healthcare workers, while the general public would be accommodated in the third phase.
On the other hand, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad on Thursday warned that Covid-19 was “not over yet”, adding that after facing the second coronavirus wave, there was now a new threat of Covid-19 variants.
“I think we are keeping a close eye on those and it will require continued vigilance and retooling of efforts to combat this to completion.”
Sultan said the “idea of vaccinations” was directly connected to this strategy of sustained precautions and said the world was fortunate to have many effective Covid-19 vaccines.
“I do feel we need to speed it up and wrap it up because the pace isn’t what I would be happy about. I think we have some measures and ideas to make it a little bit faster,” said Sultan, urging the public to influence and convince people in their social spheres to get vaccinated as vaccines become available.
“I think once we have a significant number of people in the world who are vaccinated, we will start to breathe a little easier.”
Earlier this week, the SAPM shared on Twitter that he himself has now been vaccinated after registering as a healthcare worker, and urged others in the field to do the same.
I registered myself as a healthcare worker on Covid.gov.pk/vaccine and received a PIN & instructions. Got my 1st dose of vaccine (Sinopharm) today & feeling fine. If you are a health professional (below 60 years of age), please get vaccinated now. Protect yourself and others
Pakistan received its first tranche of the Sinopharm jabs, given by China as a “gift”, earlier this month. The shipment marked the first shots to be imported into the country where more than 564,077 cases of the disease have been reported since the outbreak in February last.
In addition, the government is due to receive a further 1.1 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine by the end of this month, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had announced in January.
