COVID-19 vaccine registration for Pakistanis above 65 starting next week

The government will start registering people over 65 years for the COVID-19 vaccine next week.

Planning Minister Asad Umar, who also heads the National Command and Control Centre, made the announcement on Twitter Wednesday evening.

Inshallah will be opening up registration next week for covid vaccination for those 65 years and above. The vaccination of those who register in this category will start in march

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) February 10, 2021

Once they are registered, those 65 years and above will be vaccinated against the virus in March, Umar added.

The National Ministry of Health Services and Regulations has released guidelines for the administration of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine being used in Pakistan.

The guidelines state that people who are 60 years or older should not be given the Sinopharm vaccine.

In the first phase, frontline health workers are being immunised. The vaccination drive started on February 3 and so far more than 27,000 health workers have received the vaccine.

The province-wise breakdown is 21,121 in Sindh, 4,458 in Punjab, 691 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 274 in Islamabad, 239 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 312 in Gilgit Baltistan, and 133 in Balochistan.

China’s Sinopharm vaccine being used has two doses and only the first dose has been administered. Health workers will get the second dose around 21 days after the first shot.

“Only the front line healthcare workers who are saving precious lives and registered in the resource management system by provincial health departments are authorised to be administered the vaccine in this phase of vaccination,” said the NCOC chief at a meeting on Wednesday.

“No one else is allowed to bypass the NIMS or RMS vaccine system.”