Pakistanis aged 50-59 to get Covid-19 shots from next week

The inoculation drive to vaccinate people in the age group of 50-59 will begin from next week, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar announced on Saturday.

“NCOC in today’s meeting decided to start vaccination of people aged from 50 to 59 from Wednesday (April 21), encouraging once again everyone to register themselves for the vaccination,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.

The country's vaccination drive began with the frontline healthcare workers earlier in February. On March 10, the second phase was launched for people over 60.

Last week, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan will receive 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine under COVAX — a platform to ensure coronavirus shots reach those in greatest need — by May 2021.

Also read: Over 1.3 million people vaccinated against Covid-19: Asad Umar

COVAX is led by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and has promised to deliver two billion doses of safe and effective vaccines to at least 172 countries by the end of 2021.

As many as 1.3 million people have been vaccinated across the country for the Covid-19 pandemic thus far.