LAHORE: The federal government has decided to procure 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine, amid a possible resurgence of a new variant of the virus in various countries, officials have confirmed.

The procurement of Pfizer vaccines from the US was planned on the recommendations of the Eme­r­gency Operation Centre’s (EOC) technical advisory group following the emerging threats of the JN.1 variant.

Around 200,000 doses of vaccine will likely reach the country in the coming week, while the remaining will be available in the next phase.

Punjab would get 50 per cent of the procured vaccinations according to its requirements and the population size, said a provincial health department official privy to the procurement process.

Meanwhile, the Nati­onal Institute of Health Sci­ences (NIH) in Islamabad has also issued an advisory to the provinces about the mutating strain of the virus.

As per the advisory, the new variant has been classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a Variant of Interest (VOI) with genetic changes predicted or known to affect virus characteristics such as transmissibility, disease severity, immune escape, and diagnostic or therapeutic escape.

“The JN .1 is classified as VOI and fundamentally an offshoot of BA.2.86 sub-variant omicron variant COVI D-19 virus, first reported in August 2023 by US-CDC,” reads the NIH advisory.

“This rapid growth is observed across the three WHO regions with consistent sharing of SARS-CoV-2 sequences, i.e. the region of the Americas, the Western Pacific and the European regions, with the largest increase seen in Western Pacific from 1.1 % in epidemiological week 44 to 65.6% in epidemiological week 48.”

As per the NIH officials, the advisory has been issued to alert and facilitate the health authorities and other stakeholders for timely preventive and control measures and ensure preparedness to deal with increased patient influx during the next few weeks.

The JN.1 variant is also called a sub-variant of the Omicron lineage. It is more transmissible than other circulating variants, and the proportion of cases caused by this particular virus has been rising.

Even though health experts have declared it less severe than the other strains, they are of the view that it may lead to complications for the high-risk population, especially elderly people with low immunity.

Following the EOC’s recommendations, the official said that health authorities have been directed to target particular age groups and high-risk populations to administer the vaccine.

Vaccination would be recommended for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and those who previously tested positive and remain critical due to complications.

Similarly, immunocompromised patients and those diagnosed with TB and chronic infections would also be recommended for the Pfizer vaccine.

Quoting the EOC and health experts, the official said that Punjab health authorities have geared up efforts to deal with the emerging threats of the JN.1 variant.

A provincial Covid Experts Advisory Group (CIAG) meeting has also issued directions to ensure the availability of testing kits in state-run hospitals.

The Punjab Directorate of Health Services has ordered the heads of government hospitals to enhance testing of all suspected cases, especially foreign travellers and contacts of known cases.

They have been directed to upload all suspected and confirmed cases of the JN.1 variant on the dashboard.

Those showing symptoms of suspected JN.1 sub-variant should be isolated, besides ensuring timely investigation and sample collection for analysis.

The hospitals have also been directed to send epidemiological investigation reports of an outbreak immediately.

Screening of passengers

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has also decided to resume the screening of inbound passengers.

According to the NCOC, 2pc of inbound passengers will be screened at all entry points.

“Keeping in view the surge in the Covid-19 cases in some countries, NCOC is vigilantly observing the situation,” said the authority, adding that strict vigilance will be implemented at all points of entry (PoEs).

Dr Mumtaz Ali Khan, the head of the Centre for Disease Control, said that ‘JN.1 Omicron’, a new variant of Covid-19, has been reported in some countries, including India, due to which the authorities are keeping an eye on the developments.

“It has been decided to test 2pc of inbound travellers at five international airports and border entry points such as Chaman, Torkham, Taftan and Wagah,” Dr Khan said while talking to Dawn.

“We have provided 40,000 rapid test kits, and more kits can be provided if required. The results will be received in 15 minutes.”

According to the official, passengers who have symptoms of cough, flu, and fever will be tested.

Replying to a question, Dr Khan said the mutation in the virus was also possible in Pakistan, but the WHO has kept the variant in the very first category, i.e., VOI, instead of two other categories, such as Variant of Instigation and Variant of Concern.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2024