Kids aged 12 and above next up for vaccination
HEALTH TEAMS TO VISIT SCHOOLS IN NEW DRIVE
Health authorities will begin Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 12 and above, officials announced yesterday.
Asad Umar, the federal minister for planning and chief of the top body overseeing the pandemic response, said the government will begin a drive to vaccinate children aged 12 or above.
He also announced a special drive under which health teams will be visiting schools to make it easier for children to get vaccinated, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has decided.
Preferred choice
In early September, the NCOC decided to administer coronavirus jabs to the 15-17 age group. Pfizer jabs are being administered to teenagers as Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is considered safe and highly effective in young children.
The announcement came amid a steady decline in cases across the country. It is the first time since July that the country reported 1,400 coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours. As for fatalities, 41 deaths were reported over 24 hours.
At least 961,340 Covid-19 doses were administered on Monday, according to NCOC data. A total of 79.5 million doses have been administered as of yesterday. At least 27.3 million people are fully vaccinated while 57.8 million have received one dose of the vaccine.
NCOC has encouraged unvaccinated citizens to get the shots before the October 1 deadline after which they would face travel and workrelated restrictions.