Door-to-door vaccination drive kicks off today

Rawalpindi: A two-week-long door-to-door coronavirus vaccination campaign would commence in Rawalpindi from today (Monday)

Talking to the media persons, District Health Authority spokesman Dr. Waqar Ahmed said that 356 teams would go door-to-door and administer the anti-COVID vaccine to 1,299,838 people above 18 years of age in all tehsils and union councils of the district.

He said that the target of vaccinating 70 per cent of the population of the district would be achieved by August 10. Dr. Waqar informed that the rate of positive cases of coronavirus had reached 6.7 per cent so far which was 2.1 per cent in June and 6.1 per cent in July last year.

He said staff deployed for the campaign had been issued special instructions and informed that no negligence in that regard would be tolerated.

“Sufficient quantity of vaccine is available, and no stone will be left unturned in efforts to make the campaign a success,” he added.

The Punjab government has decided to launch a door-to-door coronavirus vaccination campaign from July 26 in five cities of the province — Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, and Rawalpindi — to meet the targets set by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC).

The decision was taken in a meeting jointly chaired by Provincial Minister for Health Dr. Yasmin Rashid and the Punjab chief secretary at the Civil Secretariat on Saturday.

Punjab Chief Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik directed the administration and the police to extend full cooperation to the Health Department teams during the special campaign.

He also issued instructions for vaccination camps to be set up in the vicinity of all teaching hospitals.

The health department had prepared a "micro plan" for the special vaccination campaign and two mobile teams would work in each union council for door-to-door vaccination.

She said that 566 teams in Faisalabad, 224 in Gujranwala, 250 in Multan, 356 in Rawalpindi, and 528 teams in Lahore would be formed to administer the vaccine at people's doorsteps.