How to get the coronavirus vaccine in Pakistan
The NCOC has released an 8-step procedure for everyone
Pakistan launched its coronavirus vaccination drive on February 3.
The country received the Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine early Monday morning. Thousands of frontline health workers from both public and private sectors are being inoculated first. They will receive the BBIBP-CorV vaccine developed by Chinese firm Sinopharm. It has an efficacy of 79.3%.
Let’s take a look at the details released by the National Command and Control Centre for the vaccination drive in Pakistan.
The plan aims to vaccinate people under an integrated digital system following the best international practices, according to a statement by the NCOC.
“Human involvement is limited to ensure transparency,” it added.
All details of immunisation will be handled through the National Immunisation Management System, which the federal government developed last year.
A National Vaccination Administration and Coordination Cell has also been set up by the NCOC to coordinate the immunisation programme.
Provincial and district vaccination management and coordination cells will report to the NVACC.
Adult Vaccine Centres (AVC) have been established across the country.
Here’s how you will get the vaccine:
- You will have to send your CNIC number to the Sehat Tahaffuz helpline 1166 through SMS or the NIMS website
- The system will verify your address and confirm registration and you will be sent details of your designated AVC along with a unique PIN code. If the designated AVC is outside your current tehsil, you can change it through the NIMS web portal or by calling 1166 helpline within five days of receiving the first SMS
- Once the vaccine arrives at your centre, you will be contacted for an appointment for vaccination
- After confirmation and registration, you will have to take your original CNIC and PIN code to the centre on the appointed day
- Staff at the vaccination centre will verify your CNIC and PIN code
- After verification, you will receive the COVID-19 vaccine
- Vaccine staff will enter your details in NIMS and a confirmation message will be sent to you through SMS
- You will have to remain at the AVC for 30 minutes for post-inoculation monitoring for any adverse effects
A dashboard will be created in real-time to update government health departments at the district, provincial and federal levels.
Sindh has established 14 COVID-19 vaccine centres
The government of Sindh has established 14 coronavirus vaccine centres across the province of which nine are in Karachi.
Districts South, East and Central will get two centres each while Korangi, Malir and West will each get one centre.
Other districts of Sindh where vaccination centres have been set up are Sukkur, Larkana, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas.
Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho has directed the vaccine coordination cell and officials to ensure smooth supply once inoculation starts at the Karachi Expo Centre.
Approved vaccines in Pakistan
Three vaccines have been authorised by the Drug Regulatory authority of Pakistan: China’s Sinopharm vaccine, AstraZeneca-Oxford’s vaccine and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
Final-stage trials in the country of a coronavirus vaccine from China’s CanSino Biologics are about to be completed.
The trial at Lahore’s University of Health Sciences has been successfully completed. No severe reactions have been reported.
Only 5% of those vaccinated experienced a mild fever after being administered the shots, according to UHS Vice Chancellor Professor Javed Akram.
CanSino has offered 20 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan, Bloomberg reported Friday.
At a recent press conference, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan will receive the first consignment of vaccines by the end of this month. China has assured the country that 500,000 vaccine doses will be delivered by January 31.
The story was originally published on January 28.
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