Citizens awaiting second COVID jab can go to vaccination centres on Sundays without SMS: NCOC

• Vaccination centres will remain open on Sunday exclusively for people who are to receive their second jab: NCOC
• NCOC says people can head to vaccination centres without an SMS confirmation on Sundays.
• The vaccination drive for people aged 17 years or above began on September 1.

ISLAMABAD: With a large number of people waiting to get a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday announced that all vaccination centres would remain open on Sundays to accommodate such individuals.

According to the NCOC, all those individuals for whom the required gap prior to a second shot has lapsed, can get their second jab on a Sunday from any vaccination centre, without waiting for a confirmation SMS.

Sundays have been exclusively reserved to cater to the needs of such individuals, the NCOC said.

The vaccination drive for people aged 17 years or above began on September 1 as part of the government's strategy to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Earlier, people who were 18 or older were being immunised against coronavirus in the country.

Pakistan is also preparing to offer inoculations to 15-year-olds, for which the government will announce a day soon, according to Asad Umar, the head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), and Dr. Faisal Sultan, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination.

Moreover, citizens with impaired immune systems aged 12 and up will also receive the COVID-19 shots.