Vaccination of children aged 12 and above all set to begin

The government will begin a drive to vaccinate children aged 12 or above to protect them from coronavirus, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar announced on Tuesday.

The announcement came amid a steady decline in fatalities from coronavirus across the country.

Umar in a tweet said Pakistan will launch a campaign soon to vaccinate children at schools. He did not say exactly when it will begin. “A special drive will be run for vaccination at schools to make it easier for children to be vaccinated,” he said.

Currently Pakistan is offering free jabs to teens and adults.

The government had allowed citizens above the age of 17 to get vaccinated from September 1. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had announced that these people would have to be fully vaccinated by October 15 in order to enter educational institutions, Dawn reported.

Shortly after, the government had decided to start vaccinating adolescents in the age group of 15 to 17 years.

Earlier this month, the NCOC had revised its Covid-19 vaccination guidelines for people below 18 years of age and said that they will be administered the Pfizer vaccine.

People below the age of 18 will have to provide their B-form number for registration in the National Immunisation Management System, the NCOC statement had said.

The latest development comes hours after Pakistan reported 41 deaths from coronavirus and 1,400 new cases in the past 24 hours.

The highest number of new cases were reported from Punjab at 574, followed by 535 in Sindh and 143 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It is the first time since July that Pakistan reported less than 1,500 single-day confirmed cases amid the fourth wave which authorities believe has subsided.

“Non-vaccinated people will be facing various restrictions from October 1! Get yourself completely vaccinated immediately!” the NCOC warned earlier on Tuesday. —