Pakistan registers 300,000 health workers for COVID-19 vaccination drive

Pakistan has registered 300,000 health workers for COVID-19 vaccination, informs Asad Umar Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives, and the chief of the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), Pakistan’s COVID-19 monitoring body.

Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives shared the latest development in a series of tweets on Sunday.

The statement shared on Twitter said that”About 300,000 healthcare workers have been registered so far.”

Federal Minister added that the health care workers that will be in charge to inject the COVID-19 vaccine have already been trained in administering the shots.

Asad Umar added that not only the vaccine will be arriving in Pakistan within the first quarter of the year but a vaccination campaign will also start.

“The government is trying to make the vaccine available in the country from more than one source,” he said adding that  the priority for the vaccine doses will not only be the health workers but it will be also administered to people over 65 years of age.

Federal Minister maintained that the government had given a clear policy that the COVID vaccine will not only be procured by the government but the private sector, provinces, and hospitals can also procure the vaccine which will be registered with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).

He stated that Sinopharm and AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines have been approved for emergency use in Pakistan.

Umar said at the moment there are two anti-coronavirus vaccines authorized for emergency use while phase III clinical trials of the third vaccine by CanSino will be completed by the first week of February.

“We have multiple sources for the anti-coronavirus vaccines slated for delivery in February-March. So the vaccines will be procured and rolled out in the first quarter of this year.”