Vaccination for elderly aged above 60 starts today, 10th March, in the next phase of COVID vaccination in Pakistan.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr. Faisal Sultan announced the commencement of the vaccination drive.
“Pak Covid-19 vaccination, next phase – starting 10 March, inshallah. Beginning with the senior most citizens, who will receive SMS with instructions on their cell phones” he said in a tweet.
He said that the instructions for the vaccination will be sent to the senior citizens via SMS.
Vaccination drive in Pakistan started for the frontline healthcare workers. Prime Minister Imran Khan had inaugurated the coronavirus vaccination campaign on Feb 2.
Dr Rana Imran was given a jab with Chinese firm Sinopharm’s vaccine at the Prime Minister’s Office. However the Sinopharm does was categorized as not suited for the elderly.
It was therefore decided that senior citizens (those aged 60 and above) would be vaccinated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
However after gathering sufficient data of 339 elderly people given Sinopharm’s vaccine in China, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain it was concluded that the vaccine had no major side effects on the elderly.
Talking about the COVID-19 experimental vaccine Sinopharm, developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Dr Nausheen Hamid said that it is 86% effective.
