ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Thursday urged district administrations of Karachi, Hyderabad, Nowshera, Faisalabad, Quetta, Mingora and Mardan to expedite vaccination so that the country could be able to avoid fifth wave of Covid-19.

“To ensure there is no 5th wave of Covid we have to meet vaccination targets set. Otherwise despite sharp decline in cases we remain vulnerable, if large number of people remain unvaccinated. Remember that 2nd dose is vital for protection against Covid. Get fully vaccinated,” the minister tweeted.

“Best vaccination progress: Islamabad, Peshawar, Gilgit, Mirpur. Good progress: Skardu, Charsadda, Sargodha. Needing improvement: Hyderabad, Nowshera, Faisalabad, Quetta, Karachi, Mingora, Mardan. District admin & health teams in these cities need to improve performance,” he said in another tweet.

Mr Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), urged people to get their second dose at the earliest as it was vital for protection against the pandemic.

According to the NCOC, 622 more people were infected and 16 succumbed to the virus on Thursday.

While 98,607,708 doses of vaccine have been administered across the country, 67,580,193 people have got at least one dose of vaccine and 37,468,751 people have become fully vaccinated.

The number of active cases, which was 90,000 in August, dropped to 24,699 as of October 21, and 1,759 patients were admitted across the country.

Meanwhile, the World Health Orga­ni­sation (WHO) and its partners have issued an urgent call for concrete action to better protect healthcare workers worldwide from Covid-19 and other health issues.

The organisations are not only concerned that large numbers of healthcare workers have died from Covid-19, but also that an increasing proportion of the workforce are suffering from burnout, stress, anxiety and fatigue. In a joint statement, they called on all member states and stakeholders to strengthen the monitoring and reporting of Covid-19 infections, ill-health and deaths among healthcare workers.

“Available data from 119 countries suggest that by September 2021, two in five healthcare workers were fully vaccinated on average, with considerable difference across regions and economic groupings. Less than one in ten have been fully vaccinated in the African and Western Pacific regions, while 22, mostly high-income countries, reported that above 80 per cent of their healthcare workers are fully vaccinated. A few large high-income countries have not yet reported data to WHO,” the statement said.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2021