Pakistan on Sunday reached the milestone of fully vaccinating 100 million of its citizens against coronavirus.
Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), which oversees the pandemic response in the country, described it as “a major milestone” in Pakistan’s national vaccination programme.
As many as 100 million Pakistanis are now fully vaccinated and “more than 127 million have received at least one dose,” he said, adding that the country is “very close to achieving vaccination of all eligible citizens.”
Around 45 per cent of Pakistan’s 220 million population is now fully vaccinated. Nearly 58 per cent (127 million) have received at least one dose, according to NCOC data. Pakistan has also administered over 4.6 million COVID-19 booster shots nationwide.
The countrywide door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination drive launched by the Pakistan government in February 2022 had a crucial role in bringing down the number of daily infections. More than 55,000 mobile teams carried out door-to-door drives, offering both vaccines and booster shots to people. Health officials requested the citizens to get vaccinated against the virus to avoid facing more complications and hospitalisation, saying that it was the only way to return to normal life.
The latest data shows a significant decrease in single-day infections and hospitalisations compared to the last week of January when the country was averaging nearly 7,000 cases a day fueled by the contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) congratulated Pakistan on vaccinating 100 million citizens against COVID-19.
“Heartiest congratulations to Pakistan,” the WHO wrote on Twitter.
“The WHO applauds the government of Pakistan for having over 100 million individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19 virus.
“This indicates the tremendous efforts made by the government of Pakistan in ensuring that everyone across the country has access to COVID-19 vaccination,” the tweet said.
Currently, 821 patients are on critical care across Pakistan and the Covid positivity ratio is two per cent, the lowest level in the last two months as per data issued by the NCOC.
The last time the positivity ratio dropped this low was on January 5 when the country reported a 1.8% positivity rate.
The latest stats show that Pakistan logged only 755 new cases of coronavirus, pushing the overall case count to 1,514,258 in a single day.
The national COVID-19 body said that the new infections were detected when it conducted 37,661 diagnostic tests countrywide during the last 24 hours. The country’s daily COVID-19 death toll fell below 10 once again as only seven people succumbed to the virus overnight, pushing the total number of deaths to 30,265.
Moreover, the active case count after the recent deaths and 886 recoveries further diminished to 29,611. Sindh reported at least 283 new coronavirus cases during the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 567,088.
According to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, 281 patients also recovered overnight, lifting the total to 539,487. He further said that no deaths were reported in Sindh during the period, keeping the toll intact at 8,085. Over in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, at least 204 more people contracted coronavirus during the last 24 hours, taking the confirmed cases to 217,187.
According to health officials, 120 patients also recovered overnight, lifting the total to 208,510. They added that there were no reported deaths due to the disease in KP, with the toll currently standing at 6,288.
Earlier, the NCOC on February 23 abolished the pre-boarding negative PCR test for fully vaccinated inbound travellers as it revised the Covid-related policy for passengers travelling to Pakistan. The inbound policy, which came into effect on February 24, stated that vaccination was mandatory for all adult inbound passengers. Travellers below 12 years of age were exempt from mandatory vaccination. Passengers travelling to Pakistan between 12 to18 years of age were allowed to travel without mandatory vaccination till March 31.
