Sindh govt told to vaccinate healthcare workers: Asad Umar

ISLAMABAD: Chief of the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), Asad Umar, on Sunday said that the Sindh government has been told to ensure that the coronavirus vaccines are only administered to healthcare workers.

"We have received complaints that the coronavirus vaccine is being given to acquaintances in Karachi besides healthcare workers," said Umar. He said that the NCOC team, under the supervision of Prime Minister Imran Khan's adviser on health Dr Faisal Sultan, held a meeting with the Sindh government representatives, where they were "firmly told to ensure that the vaccine is only given to healthcare workers". Pakistan obtained the first 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine as a gift from China on February 1, after which Prime Minister Imran Khan kicked off Pakistan's coronavirus vaccination drive the next day.

China has also confirmed that a second consignment of the vaccine, another half a million doses of the vaccine will be brought to Pakistan via a special flight of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force on Monday.

Sindh launched its vaccine drive on February 3. According to Dr Nadeem Sheikh, the director of the directorate of health services in Karachi, there are 64,000 registered healthcare professionals in Karachi alone and there are 120 cubicles in 10 vaccination centres that have been made to inoculate the city's health workers.