Pakistan vaccinates 27,000 health workers in anti-coronavirus vaccination drive

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has vaccinated about 27,000 frontline healthcare workers against the coronavirus during its ongoing anti-COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the anti-coronavirus vaccination drive on February 2, a day after the country received 500,000 doses of anti-coronavirus vaccine from China's Sinopharm.

Khan said that the healthcare workers would be given the vaccine first as they are exposed to maximum risk.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday said that 27,000 have been given the vaccine.

Among the health workers vaccinated include 21,121 in Sindh, 4,458 in Punjab, 691 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 274 in Islamabad, 239 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), 312 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 133 in Balochistan, the NCOC said.

The NCOC also issued a video to motivate health workers to get the vaccine.

It showed Dr Aneela Sadaf Mengal of Services Hospital, Karachi, Dr Saima and others thanking Prime Minister Khan for arranging the vaccine and giving priority to the frontline health workers.

Asad Umar, the NCOC chief and planning minister, said that in the next phase citizens above 65 year of age would be vaccinated which would be followed by vaccination of masses.

Meanwhile, another 57 people died due to coronavirus, taking the toll to 12,185, while some 1,760 were in critical condition, according to the ministry of National Health Service.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country stands at 559,093.