COVID-19 vaccines to be administered in three phases: sources

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has finalised the plan for initiating COVID-19 vaccination drive in three phases which is likely to be commenced from March 2021, citing sources, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

Sources closer to the health ministry told ARY News that the coronavirus vaccination drive will be run in three phases across the country from March 2021.

In the first phase, 10 million people will be administered COVID-19 vaccines including 0.5 million frontline essential health workers and 9.5 million population over 65 years of age.

Read: NCOC approves COVID-19 vaccine administration plan: sources

In the second phase, all health workers and population over 65 years of age will be administered the vaccines, sources said.

A defined proportion of the remaining population will be given COVID-19 vaccines in the third phase of the forthcoming drive. The continuation of the drive will be made on the quantity of the available COVID-19 vaccines during the third phase, sources added.

Read: Russia offers Pakistan its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine

Earlier on Monday, it emerged that a special cabinet committee, headed by Federal Minister Asad Umar, had been constituted for procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The five-member committee of the federal cabinet includes Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Sania Nishtar and Dr Faisal Sultan as other four members, according to sources. The special cabinet committee will function as an oversight body for procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine, sources said.

Read: COVID-19 vaccine likely to be available in Pakistan in Feb: Faisal Sultan

The committee’s decision will be final and it won’t require an endorsement from the federal cabinet, sources told ARY News. The objective of formation of a special committee is to ensure transparency in procurement of the vaccine, sources further said.

The health ministry had finalised a comprehensive strategy for administering of the expected COVID-19 vaccine across the country.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had approved the ‘Vaccine Administration Plan’, the comprehensive strategy prepared by the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) of the health ministry.