Federal govt prepares national immunisation management system

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has prepared the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) with the joint efforts of different ministries for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines across Pakistan, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said that the federal government has finalised the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) which was jointly prepared by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC), Ministry of Interior and the National Information Technology Board (NITB).

The NCOC detailed that the preparation of NIMS aims effective supplies of COVID-19 vaccines across the country after collecting accurate data prior to the administration of the vaccines to the nationals.

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The relevant authorities will start the registration process in phases for the coronavirus vaccination by using the newly-developed immunisation management system. Citizens will be sent SMS for registering themselves to the NIMS database through their computerised national identity card (CNIC) numbers, added NCOC.

The statement added that Pakistan is in contact with the manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines and it is among top priorities of the federal government to make the vaccines available at earliest in the country.

Earlier on December 22, it emerged that the health ministry had commenced working on a specific mechanism for corona vaccination campaign across the country.

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A National Immunisation Management System had been under the hammer for the vaccination drive with the technical assistance from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), sources told ARY News.

The National Immunisation Management System will be a two-way communication system that will run in collaboration with the Interior and Information Technology ministries, whereas, the central database of the modern mechanism will be established at NADRA.

The citizens of various age groups will be registered in the database of NADRA and vaccination schedule of different age groups will be prepared in accordance with the database.

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The database authority will send SMS to a citizen according to his or her particulars and the citizen will respond to NADRA with a message with regard to confirmation of the message, according to sources.

NADRA will inform the person about concerning health centre for his or her vaccination after getting confirmation. The details of a citizen will become part of the NADRA record after vaccination.

According to sources, ‘Sehat Tahaffuz Helpline’ ‘1166’ will be used during the vaccination drive, through which the general public will be informed about the vaccination drive.

The health ministry had also sought the cooperation of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for corona vaccination drive in a letter to the Secretary Information Technology seeking a free SMS service for the corona vaccination drive.