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ISLAMABAD: In a major relief to Pakistanis waiting to travel for education or jobs abroad, the federal government lifted a rule barring the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for people below 40 years old, it emerged on Tuesday.
Taking to a private news channel, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Faisal Sultan asserted that Pakistanis who are travelling to Saudi Arabia can get the Oxford vaccine after showing their documents.
He also urged the World Health Organisation (WHO) to ensure that the vaccines approved by it are universally acceptable and Pakistan is in talks with the Saudi authorities in this regard.
“On the recommendations of an expert committee, we have updated the interim guidelines (for the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine AZD1222) today. There are two key changes: Use among less than 40 years be restricted irrespective of gender (till the availability of further data). Interval between doses fixed 12 weeks instead of range of 8-12 weeks mentioned in an earlier version,” Director General Health Pakistan Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar had told a private newspaper.
Protests had erupted across the country asking the government to allow the AstraZeneca vaccine. The kingdom has only approved Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, while in Pakistan, Chinese vaccines are mostly being used.
Pakistan has received 1.2 million doses of AstraZeneca under the COVAX facility. As of June 11, 1.3 percent of Pakistan’s 220 million people had been fully vaccinated and 3.8pc had received at least one dose, mostly Sinopharm or Sinovac, official figures show.