Health ministry issues guidelines on who could receive Pfizer jabs

ISLAMABAD: National Ministry for Health has issued guidelines detailing who could receive a COVID jab from Pfizer vaccine, ARY NEWS reported.

Under the fresh guidelines, the federal health ministry has allowed travelers planning to go abroad before July 26 to be administered Pfizer jabs.

Those traveling to countries which have not yet accepted Chinese vaccines, people having work or study visa and travelers going to Saudi Arabia will receive the Pfizer jabs, the guidelines issued today read.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan has made an agreement to procure 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer.

An exact timeline was not yet available, health minister Faisal Sultan told Reuters, but said the doses would arrive by the end of 2021, under an agreement the government has made with the manufacturer.

Pakistan has started a mass vaccination campaign late last month that is now open to all adults.

On May 29, Pakistan received 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX facility, but authorities have only administered those to people who are immunocompromised and not suitable for other vaccines.

Nearly 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country of 220 million people so far, with about 3.5 million people fully vaccinated, according to the National Command Operation Center, which is overseeing the pandemic response.

Pakistan has primarily used Chinese vaccines – Sinopharm, CanSinoBio and Sinovac- in its inoculation drive and, earlier this month began allowing those under 40 to receive AstraZeneca, of which it has a limited supply meant for people traveling to countries that require it.