Asad Umar wants people aged above 50 to receive COVID jabs on priority

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development and head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar on Sunday called for vaccinating people in the age group above 50 saying that they are most vulnerable against COVID-19, ARY NEWS reported.

Taking to Twitter to make an appeal, the federal minister said that Pakistan has a population of 27.2 million falling under the category of above 50 age group.

Pakistan has 2 crore 72 lakh people who are 50 years or older. This age group is most vulnerable to serious health effect of covid. So far 56 lakh or 20.6% of these have gotten at least 1 dose of vaccine. Please encourage all in this age group to vaccinate as soon as possible.

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) July 11, 2021

“This age group is most vulnerable to serious health effects of covid,” he said while sharing that out of the total population under this category, 5.6 million of them -which accounts for 20.6 percent of this group- so far have received at least a single COVID jab.

“Please encourage all in this age group to vaccinate as soon as possible.”

It is pertinent to mention here that the federal government has currently allowed walk-in vaccination for people above the age of 18 in order to increase the vaccination process.

The government has also imposed restrictions on unvaccinated people, including barring their entry at cinemas, restaurants, and marriage halls besides also refusing to allow them to travel abroad.