National Covid-19 vaccination drive begins today

By Muhammad YaseenPublished On 04 Jan 2023

ISLAMABAD: The national immunization drive against COVID-19 is beginning across the country from today after China donated 0.5 million doses to Pakistan on Monday.

According to National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the first tranche of COVID-19 vaccine has reached all federating units, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan and in first phase frontline health workers will be inoculated.

As per details, vaccination centers have been established in Lahore’s Services, Mayo, General and Mian Mir Hospital meanwhile, 6000 frontline health workers of Mayo Hospital will be immunized in the first phase.

On the other hand, 83,000 vaccination doses of Sindh were shifted to cold storage in strict security by Rangers and Police after arriving in Karachi via flight of private airline. Provincial Health Minister Azra Pacheco confirmed that the drive will start today.

Meanwhile 10,000 doses of the vaccine have been provided to Balochistan. Inoculation drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will also start today.

Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday launched vaccination against the deadly coronavirus, initially for health workers, and urged the people to strictly adhere to the SoPs to stop its spread.

He said the vaccination would be judiciously distributed across all the provinces.

He was appreciative of China for providing the 0.5 million doses of vaccine.

Imran Khan again appealed the people to wear masks, adding that masks can prevent the spread of the virus and by following the SOPs we can avoid the virus.

Regarding coronavirus situation, he said that there is a complete lockdown in the United States and the United Kingdom, but by the grace of almighty Allah the economy is running in Pakistan.

On Monday, Chinese ambassador formally handed over the Covid-19 vaccine to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at the Noor Khan Airbase as the doses reached Pakistan from China.

Speaking on the occasion, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Beijing practically gave proof of its everlasting friendship with Islamabad, and a new chapter of companionship between both countries will be written.

The foreign minister said China donated five hundred thousand vaccine doses to Pakistan and is supporting us in steps to counter the pandemic. The Chinese ambassador said that Pakistan is first country to which China has donated vaccines.

A special Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plane with the first batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses reached Islamabad today. The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which oversees Pakistan’s coronavirus response, had sent the special aircraft to bring the vaccine that Beijing had promised to provide.

The NCOC has taken necessary steps to store the vaccine in Islamabad and onward supply to various federating units particularly to Sindh and Balochistan through the air.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that the vaccine cooperation between Pakistan and China not only reflected the sincere mutual assistance between the two all-weather strategic cooperative partners, but also reflected the duo’s efforts to promote vaccines as a global public product and improve the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries.

“The vaccine cooperation demonstrates not only our mutual assistance as all weather strategic cooperative partners but also our joint efforts as two developing countries to make vaccine a global public good and to promote their accessibility and affordability in fellow developing countries”, he said during his regular briefing held here.

He informed that in the early hours today, a batch of inactivated Covid-19 vaccines donated by Chinese government to Pakistan arrived in Islamabad.

“It was the first batch of vaccine provided by the Chinese government to another country and a concrete step in honouring President Xi’s pledge of making Covid-19 vaccine a global public good,” he added.

He remarked that China and Pakistan are all weather strategic partners, adding, Since the Covid-19 began, the two countries have been supporting and assisting each other.

The spokesperson pointed out that last year at China’s most trying moment, Pakistan offered valuable support, by first donating medical supplies, among the first group of countries.

When the epidemic situation in China eased, we supported Pakistan’s fight against the virus through various means including donating medical supplies and sending medical experts, he added.

“Virus respects no boundaries and we are all in this together”, he said and added, Solidarity and cooperation is our most powerful weapon”.

He hoped that all parties would take real actions, provide more vaccines to developing countries and contribute to equitable allocation and application of vaccines across the world so that “we can defeat the virus at an early date.”