Citizens aged 65, above to receive vaccine from March 15

The COVID-19 vaccination campaign for Pakistanis aged 65 or above will start from March 15, according to health authorities.

Ministry of National Health Services officials have informed that vaccine doses are required for 100 million people.

After vaccinating the country’s elders, the authorities will start mass immunisation for younger people, Health Secretary Amir Ashraf Khawaja told the local media.

There will be a registration process for everyone and the entire general population would be inoculated, he assured.

It was also said that people who are less than 18 years old do not need vaccination.

Earlier, the country started its vaccination programme for frontline health workers after receiving 500,000 free doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China on February 1.

However, a day earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced that China would send an additional 500,000 doses to Pakistan.

Meanwhile Pakistan is also expected to receive 10 million doses from Covax by June 2021.