People above 60 years in Pakistan can also walk in to vaccination centres to get the COVID-19 vaccine from Sunday (April 25), announced NCOC head Asad Umar on Saturday.
They will, however, have to register first by sending their CNIC number to 1166. Once they receive their vaccination centre name, they will not need to wait for the PIN code or vaccination appointment date.
Till now only people over 65 years could walk in to get the vaccine jab.
Vaccination centres will be open on Sundays, too, Umar said on Twitter.
There are five COVID-19 vaccines approved in Pakistan:
1. China’s Sinopharm
2. CanSino (Convidecia)
3. Sinovac (CoronaVac)
4. Russia’s Sputnik V
5. UK’s AstraZeneca-Oxford
Apart from the AstraZeneca vaccine, the rest of the shots are available in the country already.
Pakistan had received 0.5 million doses of the Chinese-made Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, according to the National Command and Operation Centre.
These vaccines were bought, not donated from China.
Sinovac’s shot, called CoronaVac, has an efficacy of 50.7%–lower than most available vaccines. It was the fifth vaccine to be approved in Pakistan.
Only people above the age of 18 will be given the vaccine. “The safety and efficacy of CoronaVac in children and adolescents below 18 have yet to be established,” the ministry said.
People will be given two doses of the Sinovac vaccine with a gap of 28 days.
These are the Ramazan timings for vaccination centres across the country:
Punjab
10am to 4pm for the first shift
9pm to 1am for the second shift
Sindh
9am to 1pm
8:30pm to 12am
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
10am to 2pm
10pm to 1 am
Balochistan
9am to 1pm
8pm to 12am
Gilgit-Baltistan
10am to 2pm
9pm to 12am
Islamabad
12pm (noon) to 4pm
8pm to 12am
Azad Jammu and Kashmir
9am to 2pm
8pm to 12am
