ISLAMABAD: Ministry of National Health Services Director General Rana Safdar on Thursday said that the government has expedited the process of Covid-19 vaccination procurement and a large number of vaccine doses relative to the population was available.
In a press briefing at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) along with Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) chief Asim Rauf, Safdar said that the eligible population group has been prioritised as per disease contraction risk and, at present, above 40 years of age people were benefiting from vaccination.
He said that all Covid-19 vaccination centres were working in two shifts until midnight.
He called on people to get registered and vaccinate right after scheduling without any delay. He said that the government was also encouraging the private sector besides the public sector to manage vaccination.
Safdar said that all pharmaceutical companies that want to benefit would have to follow the DRAP mechanism. He said that there would be no compromise on vaccine quality and the mechanism ensures this.
He also said that the Health Ministry has already started the Covid-19 vaccination for 40 years citizens across the country as per the procedure adopted for other age groups.
He further said that people in this age group should send SMS with their Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) number to 1166 from any mobile number or visit the website of the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS).
Safdar said that the vaccine centre and date would be communicated through message as per schedule while citizens could get complete information about the vaccination process on NIMS’s website with having facility of registration for vaccination also.
Rauf said that the drug regulator has developed a clear mechanism for the Covid-19 vaccine for private importers, which is available on its website.
He added there were three conditions for the purpose — first, the company should have an agency agreement of the company who will provide the vaccine, Form 5A will be filled and submitted with DRAP.
He said that for commercial purposes like certain institutions who want to import vaccines for their employees, it will noncommercial use and the application forms were available on the website.
He further said that vaccine must have Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) in its origin country while the certificate of analysis was also mandatory.
He added -18 degrees cold storage capacity was also required while the vaccine should be freely available and was administered in its manufacturing state.
He assured that DRAP would give approval within 24 hours on a priority basis.
