ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Wednesday said that Pakistan recorded the ‘highest daily vaccination rate’ yesterday.
In a statement on Twitter, the federal minister, who also heads the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), said more than 41,000 people were inoculated against the novel coronavirus the other day.
“Highest daily vaccination rate of over 41 thousand vaccinations achieved yesterday. Of these 28, 424 vaccinations were carried out of senior citizens,” he said.
He urged people aged 70 and above to get themselves registered for the vaccination. The mass vaccination centres have been established in fifteen cities including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Multan, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Hyderabad, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Abbottabad and Mansehra.
Highest daily vaccination rate of over 41 thousand vaccinations achieved yesterday. Of these 28, 424 vaccinations were carried out of senior citizens. Please encourage everyone who is 70 plus to register to get vaccinated.
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) March 17, 2021
On Monday, the NCOC decided to allow people aged 70 years and above, who have registered themselves on the helpline 1166, to walk into any vaccination centre to get inoculated against COVID-19.
According to an official statement, people were requested to ensure vaccination of senior citizens as most mortality cases were being reported among the old-age group.
The decision of walk-in vaccination will be applicable throughout the country, including Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The centre said citizens would just need to register themselves by sending their computerised national identity card (CNIC) number to 1166 and visit any vaccination centre. They should, however, bring their CNICs along with them.
In another development, President Dr Arif Alvi and First Lady Samina Alvi received their jabs at a vaccination centre in Tarlai in the suburbs of Islamabad on Monday.
