COVID-19 booster doses to be available in 18 cities across country

ISLAMABAD: The booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available in 18 cities across the country including five in Punjab province, three in Sindh, four in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), one in Balochistan, two in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), two in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and federal capital Islamabad, citing sources, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to those people who are travelling abroad and aged above 12-year-old at the government vaccination centres.

Booster doses will be available in three vaccination centres of Karachi, one in Hyderabad and one in Sukkur, one each in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur, Gilgit, Skardu, Quetta, Peshawar, Mingora, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, two in Lahore, one in Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, Sialkot and the federal capital Islamabad at Tarlai vaccination centre.

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Earlier in the day, it was learnt that people travelling abroad and aged above 12-year-old could receive booster shots of COVID vaccine as per the sources of the health ministry.

The person receiving the jab would have to submit evidence that the country, he/she is travelling to needed booster shots of the COVID vaccine, sources added.

“Anyone travelling abroad for education, job, Hajj and Umrah and other purposes will be administered the jab while government officials and businessmen going abroad will also receive the shots,” they said.

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They said that those in the age group between 12 to 17 would receive a Pfizer booster shot while people aged above will receive shots from Pfizer, Sinopharm, and Sinovac.

“The shots will only be administered at government-run vaccination centres with separate counters for the purpose,” they said adding a fee in this regard would be submitted at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).

Those who could not receive the shots, according to the sources, included people lacking NICs, suffering from high fever or low immunity, chronic diseases, and COVID-19.

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“Administration of single or double booster shots will be decided as per the previous details of the vaccination,” they said adding that, however, no one could receive a third shot.

The sources further said that the WHO has not yet approved COVID booster shots and people will have to get the shots on their own responsibility.