ISLAMABAD: While the government has set a target of fully vaccinating 70 million people against Covid-19 by the end of this year, the national average of vaccination has reached 48 per cent with Punjab becoming the first province where more than half the population has received at least one dose.

According to an official statement, a session of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday was briefed on the vaccine administration progress across the country with particular emphasis on obligatory vaccination regime. The forum was told that so far 108 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been administered across the country.

NCOC’s National Coordinator Maj Gen Zafar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chairman atten­ded the session.

National average reaches 48pc; 580 persons get infected, 19 succumb to virus in single day

According to the statement, Punjab’s 52pc population, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 48pc, Sindh’s 40pc, Balochistan’s 17pc, Azad Kashmir’s 59pc and Gilgit-Baltistan’s 54pc population have been vaccinated. The national average of vaccination stands at 48pc.

The NCOC appreciated all federating units in reaching out to population and facilitating necessary vaccine administration. Expressing satisfaction over non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implementation and national immunisation management system, the forum emphasised the need for reaching out to groups, as required by the obligatory vaccination regime.

The forum specially appreciated Covid-19 control mechanism in various sectors, particularly implementation of NPIs in mosques. To ensure public safety and wellbeing of individuals, as well as community, the forum emphasised that only fully vaccinated individuals with mandatory masks should be allowed inside the mosques. It praised the role of Ulema in ensuring communication and implementation of NPIs. A comprehensive future vaccine strategy was presented before the forum, the statement said.

Later, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, shared the success story of vaccination on social media.

“Punjab becomes the first province to have more than half its eligible population with at least one dose at 52%. KP follows with 48%, Sindh 40% and Balochistan at 17%. Federal territories leading in vaccination with Islamabad 87%, AJK 59% & GB 54%. National average has reached 48%,” he tweeted.

The NCOC data showed that 580 persons were infected with Covid-19 and 19 succumbed to the virus over the past 24 hours. The number of active cases was 22,577 and 1,309 patients were admitted to hospitals across the country as of November 4.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2021