ISLAMABAD: A special flight of National Flag Carrier – Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) — carrying 1.55 million doses of vaccine from China has landed at Islamabad airport, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Sunday.
The shipment of Sinovac corona vaccine arrived in Islamabad on board a special PIA flight, the NCOC stated.
The NCOC said that Pakistan has purchased the vaccine from China’s Sinovac and another two to three million doses of vaccine will reach Pakistan in the next week. “China has been a time-tested friend and it is taking measures to ensure an uninterrupted vaccine supply to Pakistan,” the NCOC said.
The provinces and other federating units will be provided the vaccine according to their requirement, the NCOC stated. All preparations are complete to supply vaccine to the provinces, the NCOC further said.
The country was facing an acute shortage of Covid-19 vaccine as stock were dipping in all the major cities including Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Mardan, Hyderabad, Bahawalpur, Mianwali and Dera Ghazi Khan while the government was saying the shortage will be ended as the Federal Minister for Planning and Development has assured that 1.5 million doses were arriving Sunday.
In Hyderabad, almost all vaccination centres have been shut down. According to Health Ministry, as many as 6,000 people were being inoculated at 21 centers in the city which are now closed.
In Nawabshah, people had to leave the vaccination centres without getting vaccine jabs.
In Mardan, 20 vaccination centres were closed due to vaccine shortage. DHO Kachkol said that the vaccine supply would arrive on Sunday night. He said from Monday more inoculation would be done than usual.
As the shortage of coronavirus vaccine worsened, most of the vaccination centres have been shut down in Karachi. Sources in Sindh Health Department divulged that the small vaccination centers have been closed down to maintain the vaccine supply to the main vaccination centers in all the districts. Thirty of the 40 vaccination centers of Karachi’s District South have been shut down, said DHO South Office.
DHO District West Office said 21 vaccination centers also stopped functioning due to the shortage of the Covid jabs. Only Mass Centre at the Qatar Hospital are offering jabs, he added.
In Lahore, the 24 hours vaccination facility centre could not provide doses to the people owing to the paucity of Covid-19 vaccine. People waited in queues for hours for getting vaccine jabs but they had to leave without success. Even the center administration maltreated them and shoveled them out of the centre.
At PIMS Hospital, Islamabad, people could not get vaccine shots. In Rawalpindi, 7 vaccination centers have been locked.
In Multan, people could not even get their first dose for the straight third day. The vaccination center set up at Quad-i-Azam Academy, Multan, was shut down.
Bahawalpur has been facing vaccine shortage for the last two days. Centers are open but they have no vaccine. People who want to go to Saudi Arabia are desperate as they unable to get the shots.
In Mianwali, vaccination for overseas Pakistanis is not being done. In Dera GHazi Khan, people quarreled with health department staff, accusing them of taking bribes for vaccination.
In Gujranwala, the vaccine rollout is also stopped putting people who intend to travel abroad in an awkward position.
However, the government announced that the vaccine dearth would be tackled with the arrival of the new consignment of Covid doses.
Federal Minister for Planning and Development and NCOC Head, Asad Umar on Sunday said last week (June 12-18) more than 2.3 million people received COVID-19 vaccine jabs.
In his Tweet, Umar said, vaccinations were done at a rate of 332,877 per day. This is the highest so far in any week. “With 1.5 million vaccines arriving today and another almost 5 million in next 10 days, inshallah next week will be a new record. Well done Pakistan,” he added.
In a bid to stem speculations regarding the shortage of COVID vaccines in the country, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan said that they currently have over 1 million doses of the COVID jabs in stock.
In a social media statement, Dr. Faisal Sultan said that other than the availability of over a million doses, they expect new batches of doses between 20 to 30 June.
“Any pressure in the system and local distribution issues will be eased by Monday or Tuesday, inshallah,” he said.
A shortage of corona vaccine recently reported in Punjab, Islamabad, Karachi and other parts of the country resulting in Sindh and Punjab’s announcement of vaccination holiday on Sunday (today). NNI
