Asad Umar urges frontline healthcare workers to register for coronavirus vaccine
February 17, 2021
- Frontline healthcare workers are government's priority, says Asad Umar
- 32,680 healthcare workers vaccinated in Sindh
- 15,494 healthcare workers inoculated in Punjab
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar urged all frontline healthcare workers to have themselves registered for the coronavirus vaccine.
According to a statement by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) head, the institution will take every step to ensure the safety of healthcare workers.
Read more: Step-by-step guide: Here's how you can get the COVID-19 vaccine in Pakistan
"Frontline healthcare workers are our priority," said Umar.
According to the NCOC's data, 52,768 healthcare workers have been vaccinated across the country ever since the vaccination drive began on February 2.
Breaking down the data, the NCOC revealed that 32,860 frontline healthcare workers have been administered doses of the coronavirus vaccine in Sindh. In Punjab, the number of frontline healthcare workers vaccinated stand at 15,494 while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,639 healthcare workers have been given the vaccine doses.
In Gilgit-Baltistan, 1,013 healthcare workers have been inoculated while in Azad Kashmir, 651 healthcare workers and in Islamabad, 859 have been provided the vaccine.
In Balochistan, the number of healthcare workers who have been vaccinated stands at 252, according to the NCOC.
Read more: Vaccinate against coronavirus at 'your own risk', says Punjab health minister citing 'side effects'
Pakistan begins coronavirus vaccination drive
On February 3, Pakistan initiated its coronavirus vaccination drive. Umar, who also oversees the national coronavirus strategy, had said, “COVID-19 vaccination drive will start today in the presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan while in the provincial capitals it will start from tomorrow (February 3)”.
He had said that the health workers would be the first to get the vaccine shots. Earlier this month, Pakistan received 0.5 million doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine from China which is being distributed across all the provinces through land and air.
Pakistan's vaccine strategy
The Sinopharm vaccine was moved to a storage facility at Islamabad’s central storage facility and after ensuring all health guidelines requirement the same vaccine was being to federating units through dedicated move plan finalised by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC).
Despatch of vaccine to Sindh, Balochistan and GB will be by air to reduce time and ensure cold chain storage temperature.
The entire first tranche of the vaccine will be administered to frontline health care workers the real heroes of Pakistan’s response to COVID and who have been fighting this pandemic saving precious lives as per the outlined priority of the NCOC and all stakeholders.
The authorities have established Adult Vaccine Administration across the country and an inoculation process is in place supported by the digital mechanism.
For adult vaccine administration of the first tranche, there have been 189 designated health care facilities in Punjab, 14 in Sindh, 280 in KP, 44 in Balochistan, 14 in ICT, 25 in AJK and 16 in GB for the complete vaccine administration process.
The NCOC will act as the nerve centre while designated core centres have been established at the provincial / district and Tehsil level. The entire process is managed through a digital National immunisation management system ( NIMS) with minimum human intervention.
