ISLAMABAD: A record 1.5 million people in Pakistan received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said, as the Ministry of National Health Services scaled up its push to vaccinate 70 million people by the end of this year.
In a series of tweets posted Wednesday, Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Center, said: “Yesterday, 1.59 million vaccinations were carried out.”
Single day vaccination crosses one and a half million for the first time. Yesterday 1.59 million vaccinations were carried out. Both first dose and second dose vaccinations yesterday were highest ever with 1 million 71 thousand and 519 thousand respectively
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) September 1, 2021
“Both first dose and second dose vaccinations were highest ever with 1 million 71 thousand and 519 thousand respectively.”
According to an ourworldindata.com tally, an online portal keeping track of vaccination campaigns worldwide, Pakistan, at its current pace, was behind only China, India, Brazil and Indonesia and well ahead of the United States, Russia and Japan.
Starting in March, Pakistan hit the ambitious target of 1 million inoculations a day in August, relaxing the requirement of holding a national identity card for vaccination and allowing people to get their jabs by showing any valid identity.
The government has ramped up restrictions targeting unvaccinated individuals, with vaccination checks now required for entering shopping malls, for employees in both the private and public sector, and even for purchasing fuel in Punjab. In a similar manner, Sindh has blocked SIM cards of unvaccinated.
Umar said the government had set a “minimum target” for 24 large cities to vaccinate 40 percent of their adult population by August-end. “Out of these, 20 [cities] met the target. Only cities to miss the target were Hyderabad, Mardan, Nowshera and Quetta.”
We had set a minimum target of 40% of 18 plus population being partially vaccinated by end August for 24 large cities. Out of these 20 met the target. Only cities to miss the target were Hyderabad, mardan, nowshera and quetta
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) September 1, 2021
35 percent of the eligible population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, he noted. Umar further disclosed that 69 percent of Islamabad’s total population is vaccinated 51 percent in Kashmir39 percent in Gilgit-Baltistan, 37 percent in Punjab, 35 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 32 percent in Sindh and 12 percent in Balochistan.
35% of national eligible population has recieved atleast 1 dose. Islamabad is at 69%, azad kashmir 51%, gilgit baltistan 39%, punjab 37%, khyber pakhtunkhwah 35%, sind 32% and balochistan 12%
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) September 1, 2021
We had set “vaccination targets for 24 large cities [by the] end [of] September. Partial vaccination 60 [percent] and full vaccination 40 [percent] of eligible population [has been achieved].
vaccination targets set for 24 large cities by end September . Partial vaccination 60% & full vaccination 40% of eligible population. These are tough targets, specially for full vaccination but achievable with a focused effort and high quality execution inshallah
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) September 1, 2021
“These are tough targets, especially for full vaccination but achievable with a focused effort and high-quality execution,” the minister resolved.
NEW INFECTIONS:
Meanwhile, Pakistan reported 3,559 new infections after testing 53,637 samples over the last 24 hours, the NCOC said.
The NCOC, the department leading campaign against the pandemic, said that the number of overall confirmed cases has risen to 1,163,688, including 1,043,898 people who have recovered after treatment.
The number of active cases inched down to 93,901, including 5,690 critical patients.
According to the NCOC, the pandemic killed 101 people, increasing the overall death toll to 25,889.
Sindh is the most affected province of the country in terms of the number of cases with 432,637 infections, followed by Punjab, which has reported 394,738 cases.
SPUTNIK V DOSES ARRIVE:
In a related development, the first consignment of one million jabs of Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine arrived, people in the National Institute of Health familiar with the development said.
The shipment was brought on a flight of a foreign airline which landed at Islamabad International Airport early Wednesday. Pakistan had in June signed an agreement with Moscow for the doses.
The consignment has subsequently been moved to the central warehouse of the federal Expanded Programme of Immunisation and will be distributed to the provinces and administrative units per their requirement after the finalisation of a distribution plan.
