ISLAMABAD: The Nat­ional Command and Opera­tion Centre (NCOC) will begin vaccinating adolescents in the age group of 15 to 17 years from Monday (tomorrow).

Moreover, like the previous week, this Sunday too will be dedicated to people requiring second dose of the vaccine.

On the other hand, 3,480 more people tested positive and 82 succumbed to the virus on Saturday.

Talking to Dawn, Minis­try of National Health Ser­vices (NHS) spokesperson Sajid Shah said it had been decided to start administering jabs to teenagers in the age group of 15 to 17 years from Monday.

“They will be given Pfizer vaccine and the facility will be free of cost. Children in this age group are therefore advised to visit vaccination centres along with their Form B from the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra),” he said.

Replying to a question, Mr Shah said adolescents would be able to get vaccination certificates from Nadra’s website just like people with computerised national identity cards (CNICs).

“Pfizer vaccine will be ava­ilable at all major vaccination centres,” the spokesperson said, adding that, “we have also been making arrangements to send teams to educational institutions to vaccinate children.”

It is worth mentioning here that on Aug 24, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, during a press conference, had announced that from Sept 1, people over the age of 17 years would be able to get the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine and would have to be fully vaccinated by Oct 15 in order to enter educational institutions.

He had said the date for inoculating people in the age group of 15 to 17 years would be announced later.

Mr Shah said all possible efforts were being made to vaccinate maximum number of people at the earliest.

“As a result of this decision, all those over the age of 15 will become protected and their chances of getting critically ill will be minimised. We suggest people to get vaccinated so that various sectors that are facing closures can open and the economy starts flourishing as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan,” he said.

Meanwhile, the NCOC announced that it would be dedicating this Sunday as well to people who had missed their second jab.

“Those who have become eligible for the second dose of the vaccine can visit a vaccination centre any day of the week to get inoculated. However, Sunday has been especially dedicated to them to enable them to get fully inoculated,” it said.

Meanwhile, the NCOC data revealed that 82 patients died of Covid-19 and 3,480 got infected in a single day, taking the number of active cases to 91,717 as of Sept 11.

The national positivity rate stood at 5.5pc, with 5,373 patients requiring critical care.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2021