The federal government is optimistic that the Coronavirus vaccinationcampaign, kicked off by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday, will coverall citizens above the age of 18 before the end of the year.

In this regard, the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) hasalready devised a comprehensive plan for procurement, distribution, andadministration of the COVID-19 vaccine.——————————

According to SAPM on Health, Dr. Faisal Sultan, 70 million out of 100million citizens aged 18 and above need to be vaccinated in order to breakthe chain of transmission of Coronavirus.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has already approved sufficient funds for theprocurement of Coronavirus vaccine to vaccinate 70 million citizens, saidDr. Faisal, adding that more funds will be approved without any delay ifsuch a situation arises.

Dr. Faisal noted that Pakistan is procuring Coronavirus vaccine from threesources; first, directly from the manufacturing country, second, fromGlobal Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and third, from theprivate sector.

Here is how Dr. Faisal explained the planned procurement numbers tovaccinate 70 million Pakistanis by the end of the year.——————————

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China has gifted 0.5 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine which willvaccinate 0.25 million citizens. 45 million citizens will be inoculated bythe AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines committed by GAVI. Pakistan has alsoordered China’s CanSino’s COVID-19 vaccine, which is in final stagetesting, for 25 million citizens.

Collectively, these three sources will cover 65.25 million of the targeted70 million Pakistanis that need to be vaccinated.

The government plans to cover the small difference by allowing the privatesector to import vaccines after registering them with DRAP.

Dr. Faisal concluded that all citizens who require vaccination will bevaccinated by the end of 2021.

*Via: Dawn link*