Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan on Monday said that the country may administer a third dose of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine to some of its elderly population.
While referring to the practice within the United Arab Emirates (UAE), wherein a select portion of their population was being offered a third dose to boost immunity, the SAPM said that it was a good method to approach the pandemic.
“This is an important fine-tuning to their [UAE] programme that they are doing,” Dr Faisal Sultan said. “It will be reasonable to sample similarly for us, but at a later stage.”
He remarked that Pakistan’s vaccination campaign, which had started on February 2, was still in the early stages of its rollout, and stressed it was crucial for the elderly population to get its first and second dose right now.
Separately, the SAPM briefed World Health Organisation (WHO) Pakistan head Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala about the ongoing vaccination campaign in the country.
Dr Faisal, along with Dr Palitha, visited the Covid vaccination centre located at Tarlai, Islamabad, to inaugurate a special vaccination counter for senior citizens and persons with disabilities.
The SAPM inspected the services available at the centre. Briefing the WHO Pakistan head, he said that the government is taking stern steps to contain virus spread and added that provision of Covid vaccine is also being made available for the citizens.
He said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is buying the vaccine for citizens of Pakistan. On the occasion, he urged the people to strictly adopt coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Earlier in the day, the Senate passed a resolution with a majority for the provision of a free-of-cost Covid-19 vaccine or at its original price.
A resolution was passed in Senate with a majority which was presented by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) lawmaker Kamran Murtaza regarding the provision of the vaccine at its original price or free-of-cost to the nationals.
