Pakistan has officially begun administering the coronavirus vaccine to everyone aged 19 or older.
The country had faced vaccination hesitancy and shortage of supply but it has now secured above 18 million doses, including donations and purchases from China and allocations from the World Health Organisation.
Registration for all adults opened on May 26. People can register by sending their CNIC number to 1166.
Pakistan has reported more than 926,695 coronavirus infections and over 21,000 deaths. On Thursday, the country reported 2,028 cases and 92 deaths in the last 24 hours.
More than seven million people across Pakistan have been vaccinated against the virus so far. On Saturday, the country set a new record of administering over 383,000 vaccines in a day. “The number of registrants is also steadily increasing and 11.663 million people have registered,” NCOC head Asad Umar said.
Earlier this week, Pakistan received more than 100,000 doses of Pfizer. According to WHO, the Pfizer vaccine was provided to the country free of cost through COVAX, the WHO vaccine-sharing alliance. It will be used in the government’s immunisation drive, along with the Sinopharm, Cansino, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca vaccines.
