Sindh to get 83,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine from Centre today

Around 83,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine, donated by the Chinese government, are expected to arrive in Karachi on a commercial flight today, after which vaccination would commence during a ceremony at the Chief Minister’s House on Wednesday morning, officials said on Monday.

A team from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) visited various vaccination centers set up by the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in Karachi. After reviewing the arrangements, the team members expressed their satisfaction and hoped that frontline healthcare workers would be vaccinated against the infectious disease in a smooth manner.

The NCOC team, led by Brigadier Ejaz and Brigadier Zia for Corps 5, visited the vaccination centre established at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) where Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali and Project Director EPI Dr Akram Sultan briefed them about the arrangements.

Dr Jamali said they were all prepared to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers once they got the vaccine from the EPI, saying all the required staff, equipment, ice-lined refrigerators, computers, personal protective equipment (PPE) had been provided at the vaccination centre.

On their visit to the Khaliq Dina Hall, where a vaccination centre to be run by the Sindh Services Hospital, the NCOC team was briefed by Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, Health Secretary Kazim Jatoi, Director General Health Irshad Memon and other officials about the arrangements at the centre.

Project Director EPI Dr Akram Sultan said 15 cubicles had been established at the centre where 15 workers would be given the Covid-19 vaccine simultaneously. He added that a questionnaire had been prepared for the frontline healthcare workers, which had to be filled by them, and on the basis of their response, they would be administered the vaccine.

Dr Irshad Memon thanked the visiting NCOC team and said they were glad that finally the Covid-19 vaccine had been arranged and now the process of vaccination was going to start in a couple of days.

He said 14 vaccination centres had been set up in the province, including nine in Karachi Division. He added that so far 170,000 healthcare workers had registered themselves with the health authorities.

Of the nine vaccination centres established in the city, two each have been set up in the South, East and Central districts, and one each in the Korangi, Malir and West districts. The other districts of Sindh where the vaccination centres have been established are Sukkur, Larkana, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas.

In Karachi’s District South, one vaccination centre has been set up at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and another at the Khaliq Dina Hall. In District East, one vaccination centre has been established at the Ojha Campus of the Dow University of Health Sciences and another at the Aga Khan University Hospital.

The official said that in District Central, one vaccination centre had been set up at the Sindh Government Hospital Liaquatabad and another at the Sindh Government Hospital New Karachi.

In District Korangi, the vaccination centre has been established at the Sindh Government Hospital Korangi No. 5, in District Malir at the Urban Health Centre in Thado Nalo, and in District West at the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital.

Sindh’s other vaccination centres have been set up at the Liaquat University Hospital in Hyderabad, the HIS Hospital in Sukkur’s Labour Colony, the Chandka Medical College Hospital in Larkana, the MCH Society in Nawabshah and the District Hospital Mirpurkhas.

Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho said the vaccination of frontline healthcare workers in Sindh would begin on February 3, hours after the first batch of the vaccine arrived in Pakistan from China.

In the first phase, frontline workers, from private and public medical facilities, would be inoculated, she added. Sinopharm’s coronavirus vaccine was 90 per cent effective against the virus, Dr Pechuho said, adding that the convenience of all Karachi districts had been considered.

In the second phase, people over the age of 60 would be vaccinated, and in the last phase, other members of the public would be inoculated, she added. Moreover, during the last phase, the health minister said, the vaccination centres would be increased across the province to cater to the needs of the people.