ISLAMABAD – The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on Thursday said that as many 108 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered to people across Pakistan with the overall inoculation rate reaching 48 percent countrywide.
The NCOC met here to review the progress on vaccine administration cross the country with particular emphasis on obligatory vaccination regime.
Apart from National Coordinator NCOC Maj Gen Zafar Iqbal, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lt Gen Akhtar Nawaz attended the session. The NCOC was informed that around 52 percent of eligible population in Punjab has got at least one jab of Covid-19 vaccine followed by 48 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 40 percent in Sindh, and 17 percent in Balochistan, The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan were leading the vaccination drive among federal territories as they have administered at least one dose of vaccine to 87 percent, 59 percent and 54 percent population respectively.
“Punjab becomes the first province to have more than half its eligible population with at least one dose” of vaccine,” said Minister for Planning Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, in a Twitter post. He said that federal territories were leading in vaccination drive with Islamabad has administered at last one jab of vaccine to 87 percent of population followed by AJK & GB. “The forum appreciated all federating units in reaching out to population and facilitation of necessary vaccine administration,” the NCOC said in a statement. Expressing satisfaction over NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions) implementation and national immunization management system, the meeting emphasized on reaching out to the groups, as required by the obligatory vaccination regime.
The NCOC in the meeting appreciated the Covid-19 control mechanism in various sectors particularly implementation of NPIs in mosques.
To ensure public safety and wellbeing of individuals as well as community, the meeting stressed that only fully vaccinated individuals with mandatory mask wearing be allowed inside the mosques. The forum appreciated the role of Ulema for ensuring communication and implementation of NPIs. A comprehensive future vaccine strategy was also presented before the NCOC.