PM Imran Khan receives coronavirus jab

Prime Minister Imran Khan received the coronavirus jab on Thursday, according to the Prime Minister's Office.

The prime minister, on the occasion, stressed on the importance of people strictly abiding by coronavirus safety precautions as the country grapples with the third wave of the virus.

Pakistan started its COVID-19 vaccination drive in February after the first arrival of China-gifted vaccine doses, with frontline health workers given the priority for inoculation, while on March 10, the country started vaccination for the general public, starting with people aged 60 and above.

Earlier this week, President Dr Arif Alvi and his wife, Samina Alvi, got vaccinated against COVID-19.

The country is witnessing a spike in COVID-19 cases with 3,495 reported in the last 24 hours. In this period, 61 people were reported to have died from the disease.

Pakistan has so far recorded 615,810 cases and 13,717 deaths.

How many people have been vaccinated so far?

According to the Director General National Health Services Rana Safdar, so far more than 800,000 people have registered for the vaccine. These include healthcare workers and those who are aged 60 or above.

Safdar said that there are 8.5 million people who are aged 65 and above in Pakistan.

He said that among those who registered, more than 500,000 people have received the shot.

The NHS director general said that of those who got the jab, about a thousand people had complained of minor side-effects such as slight pain from getting the shot in the arm, headaches and low grade fever.

About a hundred people complained of vomiting and only a single case of allergy had surfaced.

No one had been admitted to the hospital after being administered the vaccine, he said.