Over 2,000 health workers get anti-Covid jabs in ICT

At least 2,239 frontline public health workers in Islamabad have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) so far, while 8,726 have been registered for inoculation at government expenses.

Among the 8,726 frontline health workers, 3,751 are scheduled to be vaccinated next week.

According to data available with The Express Tribune, 261 out of 914 frontline health workers registered for the corona vaccine at the CDA Hospital in Islamabad have been vaccinated against the Covid-19.

Similarly, at the federal capital’s largest tertiary healthcare hospital, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) 725 out of 1,989 frontline health workers have received anti-Covid injections.

As per the document, out of 599 frontline health workers registered for Covid-19 vaccination at the Federal Government Services Hospital commonly known as Polyclinic, 149 have been vaccinated.

Moreover, out of 605 frontline health workers registered for Covid-19 vaccination at Rural Health Centre Bhara Kahu, 144 have been administered the injections, while out of 1,918 frontline health workers registered for vaccination in RHC Tarlai, 847 have been vaccinated while 114 out of 2,701 frontline health workers registered for corona vaccine in Federal General Hospital Chak Shehzad have been vaccinated.

The country started a massive inoculation drive against the coronavirus at the start of this month, as the first consignment of the 500,000 doses produced by China’s Sinopharm reached the federal capital.

The vaccination process started with the frontline health workers for which the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had established vaccine centres across the country.

Besides the Chinese jabs, Pakistan has also been pledged 17 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine under a global scheme to deliver coronavirus treatments to developing nations. About 6 million doses will arrive by the end of March under the COVAX scheme, with the remainder due by mid-year.

The NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s unified effort against Covid-19, said that the Chinese vaccine had been transferred to the Central Storage Centre in Islamabad. It added that the vaccination process would work with the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS).

Moreover, a Pakistani lab will receive Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine for commercial sale, according to company officials, making Pakistan one of the first countries to market shots privately as it scrambles to secure supplies. Despite concerns over fairness and higher prices, Islamabad agreed last week to allow the commercial import and sale of vaccines without price caps, in contrast to most countries, which are importing and administering vaccines through government channels.

Sputnik V is one of four vaccines approved for emergency use in Pakistan, in addition to those by China’s Sinopharm and CanSinoBio, and the AstraZeneca-Oxford University shot.