ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Command and Opera­tion Centre (NCOC) on Wed­nes­day launched the immunisation campaign against the coronavirus across the country, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The NCOC held the inaugural ceremony of National Covid-19 Immunisation Pro­g­ra­mme in Islamabad with federal Minister for Plann­ing, Development and Spec­ial Initiatives Asad Umar in the chair, flanked by Nat­ional Coordinator of NCOC Lt Gen Hamoodzzaman Khan.

Commercial Minister Co­u­­nsellor of China Xie Guo­­xiang was the chief guest while Minister for Sci­ence and Technology Fawad Hussain Chaudhary, Special Assistant to the Prime Min­ister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and SAPM on Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Umar lauded sacrifices and services of frontline hea­lthcare workers (FLHCW) for serving the nation during the pandemic.

“FLHCWs are our real heroes. No doubt they have put their lives at risk in the fight against Covid-19 and we pay tribute to all of them,” he said.

The minister thanked the government of China for supporting Pakistan during the pandemic. He also paid tribute to the NCOC team and provincial authorities for working in close liaison and cooperation in the fight against the pandemic.

Mr Umar said that simultaneous holding of inaugural ceremonies across the country was a unified national effort to fight the disease to bring it under control and finally eradicate it in the country.

At the Islamabad ceremony, the vaccine was administered to Ms Rizwana Yasmeen, a nurse in the Isolation Unit of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). She and her team members of the hospital had had been managing Covid-19 patients since its outbreak in the federal capital.

Another individual vaccinated at the ceremony was Javed Iqbal, a Covid-19 surveillance team member of DHO office, Islamabad.

Mr Iqbal has had been working in surveillance activities since the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Islamabad. He and his team have diagnosed over 10,000 positive cases in Islamabad by contact tracing and sampling of people.

Another individual, Fahad Mehmood, was also vaccinated during the drive. He has been working in the Pathology Department of Shifa International Hospital dealing with Covid-19 testing.

The hospital has been providing testing facilities for most of Covid-19 suspects in Islamabad besides managing patients suffering from Covid-19 infection.

Talking to Dawn, SAPM Dr Faisal Sultan said that the major aim of the vaccination was to develop herd immunity in the people against the disease.

“As people under the age of 18 cannot be vaccinated, there are around 100 million people who need vaccination, but about 60 to 70 per cent or 70 million people would be vaccinated to develop herd immunity, as a large number of people have already been infected and they are not likely to develop the disease again. So as the vaccination drive moves on, the number of cases will start decreasing,” he said.

“We will get around 17 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca through Covax by June. Moreover, the government has decided that there will be no issue of funding for procurement of the vaccine and it will be procured from different countries. I can only say that from now on we will have stocks of vaccine available for all the time,” he said.

According to a statement issued by NCOC, in Sindh, the vaccination ceremony took place at the Dow University of Health Sciences, Ojha Campus Vaccination Centre. Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was the chief guest on the occasion.

Similarly, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar was the chief guest of the vaccination ceremony held in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was the chief guest at the KP ceremony. In Balochistan, the vaccination ceremony took place at the Chief Minister Secretariat.

In Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the vaccination ceremony was held at the PM Secretariat whereas in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) vaccination ceremony took place in the CS Secretariat and GB chief minister was the chief guest on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the data released by NCOC showed that as many as 1,384 cases and 56 deaths were reported due to Covid-19 across the country on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2021