Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has announced that the government plans to open registrations for COVID-19 vaccination for citizens of all age groups after Eid, which is around mid-May.
According to a report in Gulf News, the minister made these remarks while talking to senior media persons in a press meet. He also said that Pakistan will be able to vaccinate more than 125,000 people per day after Eid.
“We began a phase-wise approach at the beginning [and are expanding it now],” said Umar during the meeting, adding that the coming five to six weeks are very critical for Pakistan in the fight against coronavirus.
The minister said that the private sector had also started vaccinations and so far 14,000 people have been vaccinated through that, while 1.1 million were inoculated as part of the government campaign.
Umar also relayed that China was Pakistan’s “primary source” for vaccination and that the CanSino vaccine would also be available in the country after Eid.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is all set to start manufacturing the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V locally in collaboration with Russia in the coming months.
Vaccinations of people 60 and above commenced on March 10, while registrations for people above 50 started from March 30.
Pakistan is currently battling with its third wave of COVID-19. According to the NCOC, Pakistan has recorded 5312 cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours and 105 people have lost their lives to the deadly virus.
