Chief secretary vows to meet targets of vaccination

LAHORE: Seeking report on corona vaccination of government employees, Punjab Chief Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik directed that special attention be paid to administering vaccine to officials of major departments, including police and education. He issued this direction while presiding over a high-level meeting at the Civil Secretariat here on Monday.

The meeting reviewed the situation of corona pandemic, pace of vaccination and stock of vaccines. The administrative secretaries of health departments gave a detailed briefing that the pandemic is under control but the threat of a fourth wave still persists. Addressing the meeting, the Chief Secretary said that eradication of coronavirus is possible only through implementation of SOPs and vaccination. He said that according to the guidelines of NCOC, the targets of vaccination would be met, adding that the purpose of walk-in vaccination is to vaccinate as many people as possible.

The Chief Secretary directed the divisional commissioners to take steps to facilitate visitors at vaccination centres. He also issued instructions to all the departments to send the data on immunisation of employees.

The vaccination process is in full swing throughout the province and more than two lakh people were vaccinated on Saturday. A total of more than eight million people have been inoculated in the province so far. The meeting was attended by the Additional Chief Secretary, Additional IG Special Branch and senior civil and military officials while divisional commissioners participated through video link.

Uplift projects: The Punjab government in its Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2021-22 has approved four development schemes of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore. The projects are “Provision of Urgently Needed Male and Female Hostel Facilities at UVAS Ravi Campus Pattoki of Rs of 187 million”, “Establishment of a New UVAS Sub-Campus at Chichawatni” of Rs of 2.85 billion, “Strengthen of Capacity Building Facilities at Para Veterinary Institute Karor Lal Eason Layyah of Rs 123.650 and “Capacity Building of Dairy Farmers and Industry Stakeholders on Milk Value Chain” of Rs 75 million. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad thanked the Punjab government for inclusion of the UVAS development projects in ADP. He said that livestock sector having enormous potential for economic grow this a real source of livelihood of the poor livestock farming community.

About the new sub-campus at Chichawatni, Prof Nasim said that Chichawatni is one of the major livestock holding territories in Punjab and the new campus will contribute to uplift the poor farming communityin Punjab.