Pakistan starts registering over-65s for Covid vaccination

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Monday announced starting registration of people of 65 years old and above for Covid-19

vaccination.

“Pleased to announce that registration for getting Covid vaccine is now open for all citizens 65 and above,” he said in a tweet. He said in order to get registered for vaccination, simply write down the Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) number in mobile phone text message and send the message on 1166. He said vaccination for this age group would start in March.

It may be mentioned here that Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the country’s vaccination drive to immune frontline health care workers on February 2 after receiving China-gifted Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines.

The People’s Liberation Army of China also donated a batch of vaccines to the Pakistani military, which is also being used for the inoculation of the frontline medical staff.

The frontline health care workers are the first to receive the vaccine, and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said earlier that in the next step, the country will procure vaccine to administer about 9.5 million citizens above the age of 65, free of cost.Meanwhile, the country’s private sector is also likely to receive shipments of Covid-19 vaccines in the coming two weeks.