ISLAMABAD: The National Com­mand and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday decided to lower age limit for vaccination to 12 years, with the result that 15 million more people, aged between 12 and 15, have been added to the erstwhile 138m population eligible for shots against coronavirus.

While 80m doses have been administered so far across the country, the figure does not reflect exact number of people who have been fully vaccinated against the disease.

Inclusion of the new age group in vaccine-eligible population was announced by federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on the social media. “Today’s NCOC meeting decided to start vaccination of all 12 years and older. Special drive will be run for vaccination at schools to make it easier for children to be vaccinated,” he tweeted.

Decision makes 15m more people eligible for Covid shots

Later, the NCOC also made the decision public through social media. “Vaccination age limit for general population has been lowered to 12 years. Presently, Pfizer vaccine (2 doses) will be administered to children above 12 years,” the NCOC tweeted.

In another tweet, it warned the masses that they should get themselves vaccinated to continue social activities. “Get vaccinated to avoid inconvenience! From 1st October, non-vaccinated/ partially vaccinated individuals will face restrictions in many sectors including traveling, shopping, gatherings and school jobs etc,” it tweeted.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), requesting not to be named, said that because of the NCOC decision, as many as 15m more people, from 12 to 15 years old, had been added to the population eligible for vaccination. “Now number of vaccine eligible people has been increased to 153 million in Pakistan.

“We request the masses to get them vaccinated at the earliest. Moreover it has been decided that teams will be sent to educational institutions to vaccinate students. School administrations will be requested to ensure every student is vaccinated and in cases of refusal, students will not be able to attend their classes,” he added.

Replying to a question, the official said that earlier only immunocompromised persons, aged 12 or above, were allowed to get vaccinated after showing their medical reports but now all teenagers would be allowed.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Affairs Dr Faisal Sultan told the media that the fourth wave of pandemic had started coming down gradually.

“Based on global data it is possible that the number of cases would rise in coming months but this is all conjecture,” he said.

Dr Sultan said that the restrictions were being eased with the passage of time and reduction in cases. He said 17 per cent of population had been fully vaccinated and by the end of the year 25 major cities would be completely covered and it would protect Pakistan from sparking of epidemic. He expressed the hope that this year 70 to 100 million people would be vaccinated.

The NCOC data showed the national positivity remained at 3.17pc. As many as 1,400 new cases were reported and 41 patients died in a single day. The number of active cases was 49,968 as of Sept 28 and 4,219 patients were hospitalised.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2021