KARACHI: Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho has said that efforts are underway to soon begin administering the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the province.
Dr Pechuho said health workers who refuse to get the shot will be given show-cause notices and won’t be allowed to work in the health sector as they could potentially spread further mutations of the virus.
The health official informed a total of 55,458 health workers out of the 198,484 registered have been vaccinated so far. Among the total of 55,458 health workers, 111,547 are from the public sector and 86,937 from the private sector, she added.
Dr Pechuho said those who already received a shot in the first phase will get an SMS to update them on the availability of the second dose.
It was important for people to be vaccinated as soon as possible so that they will be protected from the serious health problems that are caused by the virus, she said.
Health authorities have had no reports of any problems caused by Sinopharm, she said, adding private-sector health facilities will expect to have the vaccine soon. The minister also directed officials to expand immunization to the taluka level.
It is worth mentioning here Another 50 deaths and 1,196 new cases have been reported in Pakistan due to the coronavirus.
According to the National Command and Control Center, the total number of deaths from coronavirus in Pakistan has reached 12,708 while the total number of affected people has reached 574,580.
The number of coronavirus cases in Islamabad is 43,753, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 71,282, in Sindh 256,741, in Punjab 168,891, in Balochistan 19,004, in Azad Kashmir 9,955 and in Gilgit-Baltistan 4 A total of 954 people have been infected with the virus.
The highest number of deaths due to coronavirus is in Punjab where 5,269 people have lost their lives while 4,301 in Sindh, 2,050 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 494 in Islamabad, 102 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 199 in Balochistan and 293 people have lost their lives in Azad Kashmir.
