The federal government has announced a COVID-19 vaccination drive for 16 million school-going children between the ages of five and eleven in Sindh and Punjab from 19 September onward.
Pakistan is expected to receive 36 million pediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from the US in the coming week for the said purpose.
An official said that this will be the first time that the government will include school-going children in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. He clarified that only Sindh and Punjab will be covered in the initial phase of the vaccination drive, and mentioned that numerous campaigns had been launched to vaccinate the adult population throughout the country.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has tasked the Federal Directorate of Immunization (FDI) with the immunization of school-going children, for which the latter has instructed the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) to begin preparations for a six-day drive.
The official explained that the EPI will work with the teams from the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as they have the necessary management skills and expertise to carry out such vaccination drives.
The US government has agreed to send Pakistan pediatric doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine after it finishes vaccinating children locally, the official revealed. He also stated that the NCOC had been notified that Pakistan will receive around 36 million doses in the following week, and the vaccination drive will be conducted in two phases.
Quarantine Centers at Airports
The health authorities have decided to set up quarantine centers at the Islamabad International Airport and the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country.
The decision came after the authorities observed an increasing number of coronavirus-infected passengers.
The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) will provide 5,500 square feet of rent-free space for the quarantine centers at both airports for this purpose, the costs of which will be borne by the health authorities.
