Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has said that as a citizen of Pakistan, he is concerned about the mishandling of the coronavirus vaccine issue.

In a series of tweets, he said: "The increasing virus infection and death ratios across the country point to a scary situation. While various strategies including lockdowns do provide temporary relief, experts are convinced that the problem is not going to go away without vaccinating a majority of our population.

"When the first and second waves clearly underlined the lethality of the virus and the world scrambled to place orders for vaccines, what made the government nap? What deluded it into thinking that all will be well? Why did it not prioritise vaccine procurement?" he questioned.

"At a time when the procurement of vaccines should have been the only concern of the government, why was the issue placed at the backburner? When the government had the audacity to promise Rs500 million to each of its legislator, why were resources not allocated for purchasing vaccines?"

He said that the people of the country were justified in holding the government to scrutiny for its acts of "commission and omission," adding that the "nation needs answers".