LAHORE: Lahore’s largest coronavirus vaccination centre remained closed during vaccination hours without prior notice on Wednesday which led to citizens waiting outside the premises and returning without getting inoculated.
The official vaccination hours are 10 am to 4 pm and 9 pm to 1 am, but the centre was closed early. Citizens who travelled from afar in the summer heat while fasting during the holy month of Ramadan to get vaccinated were left disappointed when they found the centre closed with a signboard informing them of the new timings.
Elderly citizens waited outside the locked gates of the centre and complained about the unprofessional behaviour of the healthcare authorities.
A representative of the government’s official helpline said that the timings have not been changed.
It is worth mentioning here that the government started registering citizens aged 40 and above for coronavirus vaccination on Tuesday as the country continues to grapple with the third wave of the pandemic.
The citizens who went to the Expo Centre on Wednesday included those who were scheduled to receive their second dose of the two-shot Sinopharm vaccine.
While the administration exhibited unprofessionalism at Expo Centre, Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), announced on Wednesday that over 0.1 million people were inoculated on Tuesday. He added that so far 2.1 million vaccine doses had been administered in Pakistan.
Also on Wednesday, Pakistan registered the highest number of fatalities in a single day since the start of the outbreak in Pakistan. With 201 people dying in 24 hours, the death toll increased to 17,530. Pakistan also registered 5,292 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 810,231.
Pakistan Today reached out to provincial health minister but no response was received by the time of filing of this report.
Update: An earlier version of this story stated that vaccination for citizens aged 40 and above had commenced in Pakistan, however, only registrations started on Tuesday. The error is regretted.
