ISLAMABAD: Representatives of the government of Pakistan and the United States government on Monday gathered in the federal capital to launch a nationwide campaign to vaccinate children with the first batch of 8 million Pfizer Covid-19 paediatric vaccine doses.

The vaccines have been donated to Pakistan by the US.

Since the start of the pandemic, the US has remained committed towards donating more than 78 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to the people of Pakistan. More than 70 million of these doses have already arrived in the country.

The US government, through USAID, is supporting the government of Pakistan’s Covid-19 paediatric vaccination campaign for children between the ages of five and 11.

Eight million Pfizer doses arrive in the country from US

US Ambassador Donald Blome joined Health Minister Mr Abdul Qadir Patel to launch the life-saving campaign at the mass vaccination centre in F-9, Islamabad.

The campaign is taking place in the capital and selected districts of Sindh and Punjab.

Executive director of National Institute of Health (NIH) Maj Gen Dr Aamer Ikram, director general of health services Dr Shabana Saleem and other senior Pakistani government officials also attended the event.

Addressing health officials at the inauguration campaign, Ambassador Blome said: “Today, we celebrate the next step in protecting all Pakistanis against this devastating disease by launching the paediatric vaccination campaign. Our recent collaboration to protect the children of Pakistan demonstrates the importance of our longstanding partnership to work together and overcome this global challenge.”

Mr Patel praised the commitment of both countries towards combating Covid-19 in Pakistan and said: “Protecting our communities from Covid-19 is a shared priority of both of our governments and these vaccines will keep millions of children safe from the most devastating impacts of the pandemic.”

He thanked the US government for providing support to improve health services in Pakistan and noted that it reflects strong bilateral relations between the two countries.

In addition to the vaccines, the US government has also provided over $80 million in direct and in-kind support to assist the Pakistani people in the fight against Covid-19.

This support has included more than 1.2 million N-95 masks, 96,000 surgical masks, 52,000 protective goggles, 1 million Covid-19 rapid diagnostic tests, 1,200 pulse oximetres and 200 ventilators for 64 Pakistani hospitals, all of which have helped save lives and protected people across Pakistan.

The US government also trained over 50,000 health workers including 30,000 women across Pakistan on home-based care for Covid-19 patients and established a national network of disease surveillance and response units and teams, providing infrastructure to combat the pandemic and build resilience for the future.

In July, the US provided four mobile testing labs to NIH to strengthen Pakistan’s ability to diagnose diseases in remote and under-served areas.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2022