Senior citizens to get Covid-19 jabs

Nearly 80% infected citizens over age 65 succumbed to the virus

LAHORE:

The Punjab government has developed a vaccination strategy to conduct the second phase of the anti-coronavirus inoculation drive whereby senior citizens over the age of 65 years would be administered shots from March onwards.

In this connection, the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) Secretary Captain (retd) Muhammad Usman had written a letter to the provincial government to allow setting up Vaccine Management Committees (VMCs) in all the 36 districts of the province to pursue Covid-19 vaccination of the public.

The request was honoured and directions were given to establish the committees under the supervision of deputy commissioners (DC) of the respective districts. The DCs have also been asked to set vaccination targets for the committees to fulfill.

The committees would be responsible to develop a strict monitoring system to ascertain smooth inoculation drive and fulfillment of targets. The authorities have decided to check the performance of each committee on a district level through data analysis of the drive.

It is worth noting that around 80% of the citizens infected by coronavirus during the second wave were 60 years of age or older.

Covid-19 inoculation drive commences in Pakistan

A senior health department official also pointed out that a majority of Covid-19 patients above age 65 are on ventilators with little hope for their recovery, therefore, underlining a need to develop immunity against the virus in this age group to save lives.

“To make the vaccination drive successful in the age group, the government plan to organise awareness campaigns across the province to encourage citizens to reach out to health officials for shots,” he said, adding, “The awareness drive would be conducted at both the district and provincial levels.”

In the first phase of Covid-19 vaccination, doctors, nurses, paramedics and hospital employees were inoculated. The focus was kept on healthcare workers who were at the forefront of the war against the pandemic. But now the government has increased the scope of attention by including those most vulnerable to the virus.

The health department official also told The Express Tribune that the public would be divided into age groups for the purpose of vaccination.

“Following the advice of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, we would vaccinate the people step by step through a comprehensive strategy,” he explained

“Government is working hard to establish a transparent and secure system of vaccination delivery in the whole province through the management committees.”

The provincial secretary said that the district focal persons would be in contact with federal and provincial Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) centres while overseeing the vaccination drive.

“They will also monitor the security and safety of vaccines at the storage centres,” he underscored.

The P&SHD secretary highlighted that the ‘first phase of vaccination was successful’ as the teams were able to achieve most vaccination targets.

“We are hopeful that in our second phase of vaccination as well as subsequent phases of inoculation, we will achieve our targets,” Usman added.

The government has promised to appreciate those who perform their vaccination duties responsibly and meet set targets within stipulated time and at the same time has warned of punitive consequences of negligence.

As many as 5,204 people have succumbed to Covid-19 in Punjab and more than 167,000 citizens have been declared infected through 3.1 million tests conducted by the health department.

The only good news is that at least 145,895 persons have recovered from the disease in Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2021.